


Unsuitable Breeding Stock

by sarahyellow



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: (In The Most Loving Way Possible??), Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Dark, Bondage, Bottom Steve Rogers, Brainwashing, Breeding, Caning, Castration, Cock Cages, Collars, Conditioning, Dehumanization, Dom/sub Undertones, Domestic Discipline, Enemas, Figging, Forced Bonding, Forced Feminization, Humiliation, Knotting, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Medical Procedures, Mpreg, My mind is filth and I blame yasgorl, NOT HYDRA trash, Nesting, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Non-Consensual Bondage, Non-Consensual Spanking, Non-Consensual Touching, Omega Steve Rogers, Orgasm Control, Orgasm Denial, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Rape/Non-con Elements, Restraints, Sexism, Shameless Smut, Size Kink, Sybian, Top Bucky Barnes, references to castration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-05-19 08:52:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 30,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19353625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahyellow/pseuds/sarahyellow
Summary: “You fucking son of a bitch!” Steve is spitting out, furious. His face is going red, poor thing, and Bucky feels a twinge of guilt for having smiled. He knows he shouldn’t be encouraging it.“Calm down, sweetheart,” he says. “It’s gonna be okay.”Bucky brings his omega home.





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [test run](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6618985) by [yasgorl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yasgorl/pseuds/yasgorl). 



> This fic is 100% inspired by Yasgorl's story, "Test Run." Go read it because it is awesome. I never could have brought myself to write in such a dark mindset without her work. 
> 
> For the purposes of this story, I'd just like to remind readers that Bucky's perspective, despite how awful it seems, is the accurate truth in this fucked up world and he actually is just trying to help Steve. So enjoy the juicy, juicy struggle, my friends!

It’s a week before Bucky’s able to negotiate with his boss for enough omega leave to care for Steve at home. But Brock’s had a new omega before too, so he gets it. He tells Bucky he can have eight days, then claps him on the shoulder at the end of his Friday shift and wishes him good luck. “Let me know if you need any pointers,” he tells him. “Mine used to give me a run for my money, before I got her sorted out.” 

Bucky’s not so sure he won’t take him up on the offer, especially when he gets back to the detention center and is reminded of just how out of control his new omega is. The poor thing is putting up a huge fuss as two betas in scrubs drag him into the room. Bucky’s heart leaps, immediately wanting to go over and calm him. But it’s not time yet. There are things to do.

The little guy’s eyes flare wide when he sees Bucky, and for a second he stops struggling in the orderlies’ arms. He stares at Bucky. “You,” he breathes, looking—and smelling—absolutely shocked.

Bucky grins at him. “What, kid? You think I was gonna leave you here? Think I bit you for nothing?” His eyes flick to the mating bite he’d given him only days ago. Eric had sounded extremely relieved, when he’d called Bucky to tell him the bond had taken. _He’s all yours_ he’d said. Bucky had made plans to pick up next day. “Gonna take you home with me,” Bucky tells him. “You’re mine from here on out.”

Steve’s features bleed into pure rage, and he’s back to snarling and yelling and tugging wildly against the orderlies’ arms. It’s fruitless of course, but endearing nonetheless. Bucky smiles fondly at it. 

“You fucking son of a bitch!” Steve is spitting out, furious. His face is going red, poor thing, and Bucky feels a twinge of guilt for having smiled. He knows he shouldn’t be encouraging it. 

“Calm down, sweetheart,” he says. “It’s gonna be okay.”

Steve just keeps cursing at him and struggling in the orderlies’ hold. One of them reaches to pinch at the back of Steve’s neck, but unlike at Bucky’s last visit, it has little to no effect. Bucky snorts. “Thanks for the effort, fellas, but I bonded him last week.” From here on out, Bucky’s Voice and Hold will be the only ones to have any effect on the omega.

The orderly who’d tried to Hold Steve winces at Bucky. “Shit man, good luck with that.”

“Thanks,” Bucky says dryly.

“Pig!” Steve shouts. “I’m gonna fucking kill you in your sleep, you know that? I’m gonna—”

One of the orderlies grips Steve’s jaw, cutting off his threats and shoving the rubber of a gag between his teeth. Steve grunts and yells, but it’s ineffective. The gag gets buckled in the back. The orderly flicks his eyes up at Bucky, eyebrows raised as if to say, _Damn, buddy, better you than me._

It’s then that the director comes in. He’s holding a Starkpad and he’s dressed in street clothes today, a lab coat hastily thrown over everything else. Bucky figures he’s come in on the weekend just for this. It makes the edges of his lips curl up. They must want to get rid of this one _bad_.

“Glad you decided to come back,” the director says, coming over to shake Bucky’s hand. “We’ve got a few details for transport, but then he’s all yours.”

“Great,” Bucky says. “How’s he been, since I was here?”

The director huffs, bringing the tablet around and tapping on its screen. “He was good for the first thirty-six hours or so. Went docile from the bite.”

Bucky hums, pleased. “That’s good,” he says.

“Yeah well that ended late Wednesday,” the director says, and Bucky winces. The director sees this and nods. “He’s been a handful ever since. Not that he isn’t usually, but…”

“It’s been awful,” the orderly says, the other one nodding in agreement. “So fucking glad you decided to take him.”

Bucky shrugs. “I like him.”

Between the orderlies’ arms, Steve starts growling again, making useless sounds that would surely be death threats, if they could form words. “Shh,” Bucky says, even though it has no effect on the little guy. He turns back to the director, who’s telling him,

“You’ve got a few options here. We can sedate for transport, or—”

“I think that’s a good idea,” Bucky interrupts. “Do it.”

“Okay.” The director taps the stylus against the screen of the tablet. “We use a barb-benzo combination. You okay with that?”

Bucky frowns. “I dunno doc. I didn’t go to any fancy medical school. Is it safe?”

The man nods. “We’ve never had any issues. It’s a small-enough dose. Just enough to keep him docile for transport, possibly into the evening, though with this one I wouldn’t be surprised if he burned right through it.” He spares Steve a glance where he’s already started up a new round of muffled curses—likely at hearing what they’re discussing. “The Pentothal that’s in it; it acts as a sort of truth serum.” Bucky raises an eyebrow but says nothing. “You could probably ungag him when it’s in full-effect, try and have some sort of useful conversation.” The director shrugs. “But it’s up to you.”

“Thanks for the advice,” Bucky says. He looks over at Steve. One of the orderlies has taken him to the floor in a basket hold. Steve is _screaming_ behind the gag as the other orderly approaches with a syringe in hand. He ejects the air bubbles from it before unceremoniously jabbing the needle into Steve’s neck. Steve cries out, whimpering behind the gag as the medicine seeps in and begins to take effect. Bucky watches it with a sense of fascination. “Wow.”

“Yeah, it’s fast-acting.” The director watches with Bucky for a handful of moments as Steve struggles a few more times, each weaker than the last. Finally, he’s left laying on the floor beneath the orderly, muscles untensed and tears leaking from his eyes. “There we go,” the director says. He nods at the orderly to pick Steve up and put him on his feet. “He’s still got most of his cognitive function,” the director says. “So you can talk to him and all. He’ll just be physically docile.”

“Okay.” Bucky has a strong urge to go over and take Steve from the orderlies, but he ignores it in favor of paying attention to the director’s next questions. Eric asks if Bucky wants more than the standard six pack of take-home sedatives. Bucky says no.

“We offer a microchip service. It’s a five-hundred-dollar fee with active GPS service, three hundred without. You want it?”

Bucky nods, not even having to consider that. “Yeah. It’s worth it.” God knows Steve might try to run away at some point. It’ll help Bucky sleep, knowing he can always get him back safely.

A nurse is paged, and soon another beta is entering the room with a tray of sterilized equipment. Bucky watches as the nurse loads the microchip into the terrifyingly-huge needle, grateful that she’s doing it behind Steve’s back where the omega can’t see. Bucky doesn’t want him to be afraid. The needle gets inserted into the skin behind Steve’s ear, and Bucky winces in sympathy as Steve cries out in pain. If the orderlies weren’t holding his head and neck stock still, he’d probably jerk badly enough to injure himself. Bucky swallows the bit of nausea that’s risen in his throat. “That’s permanent?” he asks. 

“Yes.”

Good. Bucky would hate to think of putting the poor thing through that again. “I want the GPS feature,” he says, because he wouldn’t put it past the little guy to evade capture for days, maybe weeks.

The director nods and marks that down on his tablet as well. “Okay. You’ll be getting his history electronically. You want a print version?”

“Nah, email’s fine.”

There are a few questions after that, but it isn’t long until Bucky’s handed a collar and a short lead. He approaches Steve, taking in his soft posture and heavy-lidded eyes. He reaches up and wraps the collar around the kid’s throat. It’s big on him, the medical grade leather and fleece looking like too much for his little neck. But Bucky buckles it shut, locks it, and hooks the lead on.

“Collar code’s digital,” Eric says. “It’ll be in the email.”

“You want his arms restrained?” the orderly that’s behind Steve asks.

“No.” Bucky meets Steve’s eyes. “I think we’re good like this.” He lifts an eyebrow at Steve. “You gonna be good for me, honey?”

Steve frowns a little, and it’s cute. “Steve,” he murmurs. 

Bucky smiles, taken with him. “Yeah, I know that’s your name. Are you ready to come home with me?”

Steve just blinks at him for a second, but then he’s shaking his head very slowly. “No.”

Bucky smiles softly. He tugs on the lead and gets Steve following him. “Come on, sweet thing.”

Steve follows.

-

Bucky hails a cab to take them back to Brooklyn. In the backseat, Steve doesn’t fight it when Bucky holds him close against his side and pets a hand through his hair. If anything, his scent lightens at the contact. Bucky’s heart warms. He knows that the kid is soothed by being touched by him.   
They’re bonded now, after all. Bucky’s his alpha. The connection’s been there since Monday, it’s just that now Steve’s finally sedate enough to give into it. “Gonna take care of you,” Bucky tells him, kissing the top of his head. 

Steve makes a soft whining sound in his throat. “Where’re we goin’?” he asks. His voice is slurred, but Bucky answers,

“Back to my place. Yours too, now. I’ve got an apartment in Red Hook, right above the garage where I work, actually.” He pets Steve’s hair some more. “Where’re you from?”

Steve presses his face against Bucky’s chest, hiding there. “New York,” he says quietly.

Bucky huffs. “I know, baby. We’re in New York. Where though? What borough?” When Steve just mumbles unintelligently, Bucky sighs and resolves to find out the information from the kid’s file later on. “You got any family?” he asks, wondering if it was Steve’s parents who signed him into care, or just the state.

“Mm mn,” Steve mumbles.

“I see.” Gently, Bucky pulls Steve away enough to look at the skin behind his ear. It’s red and irritated, a small bit of blood crusted where the needle went in. “I like you like this,” Bucky says. “When you’re bein’ sweet for me. You gonna be good when we get home?”

Steve is slow to answer, but eventually he shakes his head. “No.”

Bucky laughs. “Why not, huh? I’m not going to hurt you.”

Steve looks up at him, brow pinched and confused from the drugs. “You’re mean. Takin’ me ‘way.”

Bucky strokes Steve’s arm. “You didn’t want to stay there, honey. That place is awful.”

Steve nods, agreeing. “Don’t want this,” he says. “Don’t.”

Bucky shushes him, pulling him in against his side again. “I know, I know.” The director had told Bucky he’d find out more from Steve’s files, once he read them. The man hadn’t bothered to explain himself, obviously wanting to head out and get his weekend underway. Bucky will have to wait and see just what it is that’s made this little omega so damaged, that he fights so hard against what he needs. For now, Bucky just holds him and pets at him, using his touch to keep him calm. Steve dozes off while they’re stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn bridge. 

-

Bucky’s apartment is small, but the rent’s fair and there’s enough space for two. Steve will have to share his bedroom, but that’s the way Bucky would want it anyway. He brings Steve in and locks the door behind them, considering that he might need to upgrade to an exterior digital lock in the future. He doesn’t yet know how destructive Steve is going to be. Difficult at best, he figures.

Steve follows him in and Bucky detaches the lead, leaving the collar on for now. He watches as Steve’s eyes move sluggishly about the apartment. “You’re poor,” is what comes out of his mouth, and Bucky barks out a laugh.

“Even all drugged up, you’re a mean little shit, huh?” He shakes his head, beyond amused by the omega. He guides Steve over to sit on the couch that’s pushed up against one wall, then goes to the kitchenette and fills a glass with water from the tap. “Yeah,” he says as he returns to Steve and hands him the glass to drink from. “I ain’t swimming in money, but I’ve got enough.”

Steve is sipping at the water, eyes glued to Bucky. When he finishes, he says, “I don’t like you.”

“Course you don’t,” Bucky replies blithely. He puts the glass in the sink and comes back to stand in front of Steve, looking down at him. “You’re a stubborn little thing. I guess I like that about you, fucked up as that is. Eric said you’re one of the worst behavioral cases he’s ever seen. S’why I got you so cheap.”

Steve whines, displeased. “Nobody wants me,” he says. 

_Aw._ Bucky’s heart breaks a little bit, and he smiles sadly at the little guy. “Hey, that’s not true,” he soothes. “I brought you home with me, didn’t I?” Steve pouts but doesn’t say anything. Bucky sighs. “You should probably sleep,” he says, thinking about the upcoming days and nights they have ahead of them. He’s negotiated a full eight days off from work, but it’s not going to be easy going. “You tired?” he asks Steve.

Steve nods. “Yeah.”

“Okay.” Bucky hefts him up and guides him into the bedroom. He undresses him, removing the pajama-like pants and shirt the center had him in and tossing them to the floor. The omega whimpers at his nakedness and tries to cover himself, but Bucky just hushes him and encourages him to lie down on the bed. He covers him with the blanket, then locks the collar onto the wire cable seal that he’s got connected to a ring in the wall. The lead itself is about five feet long. It’s light enough to be comfortable and not get in the way, but strong enough to hold an omega thrice Steve’s size. Bucky isn’t worried about him escaping it. He presses Steve’s head down onto the pillow. “There you go,” he says. “Close your eyes for a while, okay?”

Steve hums, not fighting the command. Bucky watches him relax against the bed with a deep sense of satisfaction. He likes the kid like this, is the thing; all pliant and good, getting what he needs (which at this point is rest). It doesn’t make him happy when Steve is upset and distressed, despite how much he admires his fighting spirit. It’ll be easier, Bucky thinks, when the week is up. Once he’s got Steve broken in, it’ll be good.


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Get back in the mood for it, people! DARK FIC. Steve is just a confused little omega who needs to be shown his place. Juicy horrible smut, coming up.

Bucky opens his email and reads over Steve’s file while the omega sleeps in the next room. His heart sinks the further he gets. _Ah, shit,_ he thinks. _Poor kid never had a chance._

The file details Steve’s history. His parents were both omegas. It’s rare, but not unheard of. The gestational parent, his father, died when Steve was young, and the mother took enough suppressants to pass under the radar until her death. Bucky vaguely recognizes the woman’s name—Sarah Rogers—as that of an activist who was in the papers a lot, a few years back. She’d been an omega-rights activist, a supposed beta jailed for her offenses several times. Bucky frowns at the computer screen, thinking about how Steve must’ve grown up hearing that crap rhetoric his whole life. No wonder the poor thing is so warped. His mother robbed him of his natural instincts from birth. _Borderline abuse_ , Bucky thinks angrily, reading further down the document to the detention center physician’s notes. Steve had been brought in off the streets a month ago, strung out on enough suppressants that the physician doubted if he’d even be fertile after such high doses. The notes are dated, detailing the progression.

_5\. 15. 19: case 100739b6 brought into custody, displays almost no natural behavioral traits upon entry. Sedatives administered._

_5.16.19: case 100739b6 [’s] bloodwork shows alarming levels of black-market suppressants. Infertility likely._

_5.25.19: case 100739b6 has been weaned off suppressants. Bloodwork near-normal. Physical health poor._

_5.28.19: case 100739b6 displays persistent behavioral issues despite conditioning exercises. Routine sedatives, therapeutic restraints recommended._

_5.29.19: case 100739b6 [‘s] ultrasounds show ovaries atrophied to 30 percent. Reproductive organs otherwise intact. Trial bonding recommended to decrease chances of infertility, need for permanent institutionalization._

_6.10.19: case 100739b6 knotted, bitten in session with prospective alpha 947. Results pending._

_6.11.19: case 100739b6 displaying receptive behaviors following bonding session. Bloodwork pending._

_6.14.19: case 100739b6 has confirmed bond. Increased agitation, elevated cortisol levels following alpha 947’s absence. Transfer of custody highly recommended._

_6.16.19: 100739b6 [case closed]_

Bucky winds up slapping his laptop shut and shoving it across the couch. “Fuck,” he mutters, feeling inordinately pissed-off at Steve’s history and the way he’s been treated his whole life. His eyes burn with the threat of tears but he scrubs them away. He doesn’t want to reek the whole apartment up and disturb Steve from his sleep. Sighing, he gets up and goes to grab a beer from the fridge. 

He gets a call from the detention center around five o’ clock. The person on the other end tells him that Steve’s latest bloodwork has come back, and that they’re hopeful he won’t be infertile. “A pregnancy might be a good idea, if you can get it to take,” the person says. “It could help him adjust more quickly.”

Bucky makes a noncommittal sound into the receiver. “Sure,” he says. “Thanks for calling.” The receptionist ends the call, and Bucky is left to sit and contemplate whether or not he might take the advice. He doesn’t want to overly tax Steve’s small body, but he knows it could help fix his fucked up brain chemistry; a reset button, if you will. In a moment, Bucky hears sounds coming from the bedroom. He’s had the tv playing on mute. He turns it off and gets up. One look in the bedroom and Bucky can’t keep the smirk off his face. “ _Steve_ ,” he says slowly. “Whatcha doing?”

Steve pauses in where he’s standing naked, tugging back on the cable with all his body weight. He glares at Bucky. “What’s it look like?” he snaps. He goes back to tugging. 

Bucky sighs. “Guess the drugs wore off, then.” He walks the short distance to Steve and tugs his hands off the cord. “Hey, stop that. You’re going to hurt yourself.” He’s got Steve’s bony wrists in hand, can see how Steve’s palms are red and irritated from pulling on the cord. “God,” he huffs. “Honey, you can’t do that. You’ll— _oof!_ ” Bucky’s breath leaves him for a second from Steve’s head-butt into his chest. He winds up laughing and gripping him by the back of the neck to tug him away and Hold him still, pushing through the thick leather of the collar. Steve grunts and relaxes, unable to fight it. “You’ve got some kick to you, I’ll give you that,” Bucky says.

“Fuck you! Let me go!”

Bucky levels him with a glare. “You’re not gonna make this easy on me, are you?”

Steve spits on him. Fucking _spits_ on him. “I _told_ you: you’re dead.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, one hand coming up to wipe the spit off his cheek. “Yeah, yeah. ‘Kill me in my sleep’, wasn’t it?”

Steve nods jerkily in his Hold. Bucky just tightens his fingers against the collar, digging it into the glands more firmly. Steve whimpers and relaxes further, and Bucky has the control he needs to unlock the lead from the collar. “COME ON,” he says calmly in his Voice. “WE’RE GONNA GO IN THE LIVING ROOM AND YOU’RE GOING TO SIT ON THE FLOOR.”

-

Between his Voice and his Hold, Steve goes easily under Bucky’s direction. But once Bucky abandons him on the floor and goes to the kitchen to pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, Steve is up and running to the front door. Bucky turns around and frowns. “STEVE, GET OVER HERE AND SIT DOWN.”

“No,” Steve huffs, his bare little ass on display in an almost comical way. He keeps trying to get the door open.

It’s no use. Bucky’s put a temporary lock there that requires a combination. He stalks over to Steve and lifts him bodily. Steve squawks in protest, but Bucky just dumps him onto the couch. He considers the omega as he rights himself, brushing hair out of his face and glaring up at Bucky. “You need to eat,” Bucky says. “When’s the last time you ate, huh?”

Steve remains tight-lipped. But then his stomach gives an audible grumble. 

Bucky smiles. “Yeah. Thought so.” He goes back into the bedroom and pulls out the training gear he’d bought online. It’s just a starter kit, but the packaging had promised it as _“The most effective system for omegas with behavioral issues.”_ Bucky takes it out into the living room and unpacks it all. When he turns around with the restraints, Steve’s eyes go wide and he makes to get off the couch again. Bucky beats him to the chase. “Hold on,” he says, easily pinning Steve in place. “Stop fighting. It’s not gonna work, Sweetheart. Just calm down.” He gets the harness attached to Steve’s collar in the front, then the back. The arms come next, locking to the waist strap, and then his thighs. Steve growls and curses at him, but it’s not hard to keep him in place long enough to have him contained. Bucky stands back and observes him.

Fully restrained like this, Steve can’t move his arms from his body. Nor can he move his thighs apart, though Bucky figures he could probably waddle a short distance with his lower legs. He waits until Steve has stopped fuming, his face all red and breath coming in pants. “Look at you,” Bucky says. “You’re exhausted. Just take a break, okay? You’re going to pass out.”

Steve glares at him but doesn’t start up with the cursing again, perhaps because he’s so out of breath. “Listen,” Bucky says, trying to keep his voice gentle and soothing. “I know you’re frustrated and scared. I’m gonna help you through it, I promise.” He gestures to the kitchen table, where the six pack of syringes lays. “I’ve got sedatives, but I don’t want to use them unless I have to.” Bucky doesn’t miss how Steve’s eyes go wide in fear. “Yeah,” he nods. “I know you don’t like ‘em. They make you feel funny, huh?”

Steve’s face scrunches up, and for a second Bucky’s not sure if he’s going to scream or cry. He does both, cursing Bucky out all over again while hot tears spill from his eyes. “ _Fuck you_ ,” he spits, wriggling in his restraints until he topples to his side on the couch. That just seems to make him angrier. “You fucking piece of shit. I hate you!” He sobs. “I hate you, I _hate_ you!”

Bucky sighs, overwhelmingly sad for the poor thing. He can smell his distress like melting plastic in the air, and he goes over to the couch and cups Steve’s neck, pressing the collar in hard over his glands. Steve moans, and Bucky sticks his face in his neck, scenting him and allowing the omega to get a good lungful of his scent as well. Steve shudders against him, gasping and whimpering at the influx of pheromones. “Yeah,” Bucky says. “There you go. Just relax. It’s gonna be okay.” He pulls back and looks at Steve’s tear-stained face. “Shit,” he murmurs, heart lurching. “Poor thing.” He reaches to swipe away the wetness, but before he’s halfway through Steve is going at him with his teeth, trying to bite his fingers off. Bucky yanks his hand back. “Fuck, kid!” Steve gnashes his teeth together, mean and animalistic. Bucky sighs and abandons him to lay on the couch, striding back over to the kit and grabbing the gag that came with it. 

When he’s back at Steve’s side and reaching to pull him up so he can put the gag on, Steve gasps and struggles. “Wait! No, no, no! I’ll be good I will please don’t—”

Bucky shoves the gag into his mouth, buckling the straps before Steve can fight it off. Steve sobs once it’s in place, wriggling and moaning in frustration. Bucky stands up, petting at his hair to try and calm him. “You want my wrist?” he asks, holding it out even though he figures it’ll be rejected.

It is. Steve turns his face as far away from the offering as he can. He’s breathing furiously through his nose, face redder than ever now that he’s only got his flaring nostrils. Bucky looks at him worriedly. He glances back at the six pack, really considering using it. He doesn’t want Steve to have an apoplexy. “I’m going to give you an injection,” Bucky warns, already going over to the pack and pulling out one of the syringes. He hears Steve’s immediate yell from behind the gag but ignores it. Steve has struggled to his feet, but one easy push sends him toppling back to the couch. Bucky gets up on it, kneeling over Steve’s bound legs and pushing his shoulders to get him flat against the back of the couch. “Be still,” he says. “M’gonna give you a little bit. It won’t be like at the center, okay? Just enough to calm you down.”

Steve whimpers, clearly terrified, but he only struggles until Bucky’s got the needle near his neck. Then he freezes, seeming to get the inevitability of it and too afraid of getting jabbed in the wrong place. Bucky depresses about a quarter of the medicine into him, then pulls back out. He climbs off and goes and puts the needle back into the kit. “Just let that work into your system,” he says. “You’ll feel a little better then, okay?” He looks over his shoulder at Steve, who’s back to crying now. Bucky sighs, sad. “Then we can eat dinner.”

-  
Dinner goes relatively well, in Bucky’s opinion. The drugs take effect and Steve’s breathing calms down. He stops struggling against the restraints and the muffled curses behind the gag stop. Bucky microwaves them their dinner and brings Steve’s over on a plate. “Here,” he says, reaching around to undo the straps to the gag. It comes out of Steve’s mouth with a puddle of drool, which Bucky wipes away with a napkin. “Hey, you’re okay,” he says when Steve whimpers. “Ready to eat?”

Steve doesn’t nod, but he doesn’t say no and he doesn’t curse. Bucky picks up the plate and starts feeding him bites of the food—macaroni and cheese. “Sorry it’s not gourmet,” Bucky says as he waits for Steve to chew and swallow. “I spent the week preparing for your behavioral issues. Didn’t even think about what I’d be feeding you.” 

Steve glares up at him at that, but doesn’t say anything, which is an improvement. He opens his mouth obediently when Bucky brings the next spoonful to his lips. 

“I’ll leave the gag off if you can behave,” Bucky tells him. “We’re above the garage so I don’t really have neighbors you’ll disturb, but yelling and cursing isn’t going to help anybody.” He eyes Steve seriously. “It’s up to you how these next few days go, buddy.”

Steve finishes chewing his mouthful of food, then he says, “Fuck. You.”

Bucky sighs. The gag gets put back in after dinner.

-

Before bed, Bucky brings Steve into the bathroom. He removes the collar and replaces the harness with waterproof wrist restraints in the front of Steve’s body. “You kick me in the balls, you’re spending tomorrow strapped to a board,” Bucky warns. Steve seems to take this in stride and doesn’t fight him when Bucky fills the tub and gets them both in. 

Having Steve’s skinny body up against his chest doesn’t leave Bucky unaffected. He hardens to half-mast pretty quickly, and when Steve notices he whimpers and squirms. “Shh,” Bucky soothes, holding him back against him with wet hands. “S’okay. I’m just washing you right now.” Steve mumbles something that sounds like discontent through the gag, and Bucky chuckles, purposefully rubbing his erection against Steve’s backside. “That’s just cause I like you, you little shit.”

Steve grunts but doesn’t start squirming again. Bucky picks up the soap and starts washing him, enjoying the slide of his hands over the omega’s body. He’s so _small_ , just a delicate wisp of a thing, and Bucky feels arousal thrum low in his gut at the thought of getting to fuck him again. “There you go,” he murmurs quietly as Steve relaxes back against him and lets him wash his body. Bucky plucks at his nipples in reward. “You get nice things, when you calm down. You can earn rewards.” Steve makes a questioning noise and Bucky tells him, “The gag, for one. It can come out, you can earn T.V. time, more comfortable restraints. And time out of the cock cage I’ll be putting on you.”

Steve whines _loudly_ at that, but Bucky just hushes him. “It’s for your own good, Sweetheart. You gotta learn submission. Besides, your cock ain’t nothing but a clit. I don’t want you rubbing on it all the time for stress relief.” Steve whines and squirms, making the water slosh around. Bucky grips him more firmly, one arm wrapped around his belly and the other hand holding his neck so that his head rests against Bucky’s shoulder. “Shh,” he says, kissing his cheek. “You can’t keep getting upset at every little thing, baby. I don’t want to keep you drugged up. That stuff’s not good for you.” 

Steve stills in his struggles and Bucky hums, pleased. “Good boy.” He reaches down with the hand at Steve’s waist and proceeds to clean him between his legs, rubbing soapy fingers over his tiny cock and balls. Steve breathes heavily through his nose, but this time it’s in arousal and not frustration. His prick fattens up in Bucky’s hand, and Bucky hums at the feeling of it. “That feel good, honey?” he asks.

Steve just whimpers. 

Bucky kisses his neck, right over the tender flesh of his still-healing mating bite. “This is me being generous,” he whispers. “You don’t deserve this.” He starts to tug on his prick. 

Steve _keens_ , hips jutting up and skull digging back into the meat of Bucky’s shoulder. 

Bucky just chuckles and hooks his feet over Steve’s shins, keeping him held down and his legs spread wide. “ _There_ you go,” he hums, fascinated by the sight of Steve’s little cock in his hand. “Just enjoy it.” He kisses the side of Steve’s neck as the omega starts to really get into it. He’ll spill soon, Bucky knows. “You don’t have to fight me so hard, okay?” he says, getting the words in while Steve is pliant from the pleasure. “You got a rough beat in life. You’ve been robbed of your peace of mind, your ability to enjoy your natural pleasures. But I’m gonna help you.” He kisses him again and rubs underneath the head of his cock until he groans and shudders into orgasm. Bucky watches as his clear omega come mixes with the bathwater.

“Gonna help you get back to a healthy place.”

-

Sex doesn’t happen that night, which Bucky is fine with. He’s exhausted from the first day, even though getting Steve out of the bath and collared and strapped into a restraint jacket for bed is the easiest of the whole affair so far. Steve’s orgasm seems to have taken a lot out of him, and he hardly struggles at all when Bucky gets him into bed, collar back to being tethered to the wall.

He brushes his teeth and jerks off in the bathroom before returning to cuddle up against Steve. “Cock cage in the morning,” he tells him. “You want the gag out for sleeping?”

Steve grunts tiredly, but nods. Bucky reaches to undo it and toss it aside. “Not a peep,” he warns. “You fucking wore me out today. I want a good night’s sleep.” Steve glares mutinously over his shoulder, but Bucky just tells him, “You try anything in the night and you’re going straight on that restraint board on the floor.”

Steve’s eyes shoot down to it, afraid. “No,” he says, fearful. The board is plastic, undoubtedly uncomfortable, with over a dozen straps that would hold Steve completely immobile. Bucky shelled out a good amount of money for it, but the staff at the detention center told him it was a necessity so, no expenses spared. “No,” Steve says one more time.

Bucky kisses behind his ear where the implant when in. “Kay. Goodnight, Omega.”

Steve says nothing.


	3. 3

The next day is better. 

When Bucky wakes up, Steve is still asleep, snoring softly into the pillow next to him. Bucky props himself up, smiling at him as fondness flares in his gut. _This is his omega_ , he thinks, hardly believing it. This tiny, beautiful thing is his now. His to take care of, to teach and enjoy and give pleasure to. …maybe have pups with, one day. Bucky sighs, trying to shake the wishful thoughts from his head. They’ve got a long way to go before they reach that stage. Right now Bucky just needs to focus on getting Steve trained. 

The bedroom is absolutely soaked in the smell of sweet, contented omega, and it’s so, so good. Bucky just wants this all the time. It’s so nice that he’s nearly afraid to wake Steve up. He knows the scent will sour as soon as he does.

He jostles him lightly, rubbing his wrist against Steve’s face to give him his scent as he wakes. Steve blinks blearily up at him, relaxed and confused for a moment, until he’s not. His features tighten, tension pulling through his whole body until he’s stiff in his restraints. Bucky tries to offer him a smile, despite the reaction. “Morning,” he says. “How’d you sleep?”

Steve’s lips seal so tight together that Bucky half thinks they’ll go blue. 

Bucky grunts, sitting up in the bed and stretching the muscles in his back (they’re sore from all the awkward wrangling Steve put him through yesterday). “Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” he tells him, getting off the bed and coming round to Steve’s side. He unclasps the collar from the wall, dropping the lead and pulling Steve up to standing. Steve makes a noise of discontent but doesn’t fight it. He stands there and stares at Bucky as Bucky looks down at him. “Remember what I said about your behavior today,” he warns. “Rewards if you’re good, the gag and the board if you’re not.”

Steve’s eyes flick down to the stiff restraint board on the floor. He colors, which Bucky finds endearing, and shakes his head minutely. “No,” he nearly whispers. He _reeks_ of embarrassment, but he manages to meet Bucky’s eyes again. “I won’t fight.”

Bucky smiles. “Good.” If Steve immediately goes back to scowling at him, Bucky doesn’t let himself care. “Sit down here,” he says, pushing on Steve’s shoulders to get him to comply. Steve sits on the edge of the mattress, feet barely touching the floor. Bucky points at him. “Stay.”

Steve huffs. “M’not a dog.”

Bucky laughs as he goes into the next room and grabs the cock cage from the training kit. He comes back into the room and kneels in front of Steve. “Baby, you sure as hell aren’t. Even dogs know their place in life.”

Steve inhales sharply at that and Bucky watches him carefully, waiting to see if he’ll start yelling again. But the omega doesn’t yell. He glares at Bucky and tells him. “You’re just like everyone else. You don’t think I’m good for anything, think I’m stupid.”

Bucky’s features soften. He reaches up and smooths his hands over Steve’s thighs. “I don’t think you’re stupid, honey. You’re different from other people; more emotional, needier, but that’s just your nature. It’s not a bad thing. And you’re very good. You can give me so much pleasure and help me feel better when I’m in rut. You can let me take care of you and you can have my pups.”

Steve whimpers and shakes his head, but Bucky can smell the tinge of arousal that leaks into his scent. He refrains from saying anything but knows that the little omega is naturally inclined to like the idea of being pregnant. _Maybe one day,_ Bucky thinks. They’ve got bigger fish to fry, for now. “Spread your legs,” he tells him softly, firm hands helping him along.

Steve makes a displeased noise in his throat when he sees what Bucky’s holding. “No,” he gasps. “Please, I won’t—”

“Shh,” Bucky says. He’s already taking Steve’s little cock and guiding it into the front piece of the cage, tucking his balls into the back and clicking everything together before securing the top piece. He locks it, holding the whole thing in just one of his hands. _So perfectly small_ , he thinks. “This isn’t a punishment,” he tells him. “It’s to help you.”

“Help me how?” Steve’s voice is tiny, and Bucky smiles up at him. 

“I don’t want you stress masturbating, for one. And pleasure’s something you should ask me for. I’ll always be more than happy to give it to you. You need to learn to ask though. And you need to focus on orgasming naturally.”

Steve screws up his face. “I like to jerk off.”

“Hmm, I believe you. That’s just another thing we’ll have to train you out of, okay?”

“No!” Steve’s suddenly snapping, jerking where he sits to get his caged cock and balls out of Bucky’s grasp. “ _Not_ okay. I don’t want to be your slave.”

Bucky shakes his head sadly. “That’s not what this is, Steve.”

Steve has gone tight-lipped again. He just stares at his knees and repeats what he’d said before. “You’re just like everyone else.”

Bucky sighs. “You ever consider that maybe everyone else is right and you’re the one who’s wrong?” he asks. Steve’s expression darkens like a storm cloud and Bucky beats him to the chase by saying, “I mean it. Think about it: have you ever met _anyone_ else who thinks like you do? Like your mother did?” At Steve’s shocked look, Bucky adds, “I bet you haven’t. I bet you’ve never met more than one or two people who said omegas should be on their own.” Steve clenches his jaw but his eyes flick about, unsure and unnerved. Bucky hums knowingly. “Sweetheart, that’s because there aren’t any people who think that. Google it. You’re omega, this is what you’re meant for.” He reaches up and cups Steve’s face, pleased when he only flinches but doesn’t pull away. “I know it’s hard right now. I know it’s scary, but I’m here for you. You deserve to feel good, Steve. That’s all I’m trying to do, here.” He presses lightly at Steve’s glands, rubbing there until his eyes slip shut in pleasure. “There you go,” Bucky murmurs. “Just let me help you, Sweetheart.”

Steve whimpers, not opening his eyes. “I don’t want it.”

Bucky smiles sadly. “I know, baby. Just give it time. You will.”

It’s not long after that that Steve cries a little, only this time he lets Bucky wipe away his tears. He shyly admits that he has to use the bathroom, and Bucky guides him in to take a piss, holding his cock until he’s done and wiping the plastic of the cage clean. He leads Steve into the living room and secures his collar to another cable lead that’s anchored by the couch, then he takes off the restraint jacket. Steve shivers as he’s freed, rubbing his hands over his arms and looking small. “Thank you,” he says quietly.

Bucky smiles. “You’re welcome, sweet thing. You don’t have to wear restraints when you’re good. You think you can keep being good for me today?”  
Steve shrugs and doesn’t answer, but it’s better than cursing or death threats so Bucky lets it go. Progress is progress. When he sees Steve shiver, Bucky goes and pulls the throw off the couch and tucks it around his shoulders. “Clothing is a privilege,” he tells him. “You have to earn it.” Steve grumbles something discontent but Bucky ignores it as he goes to turn the thermostat up. “The blanket goes too, once it warms up in here,” he warns. Better to have the omega understand his place now than surprise him later. “I’m having friends over tonight.”

Steve’s eyes get _huge_. “What?!”

“Calm down, you’ll be fine. You don’t even have to talk to them.”

“I’ll be naked?” When Bucky nods, Steve screeches. “No! You can’t do that!”

“Hush,” Bucky chides. He’s getting up and going over to the kitchen to turn the coffee machine on. “What do you like to eat for breakfast?” he asks. “Toast and eggs work?”

Steve growls. “So you’re going to pass me around to your friends, is that it?!”

Bucky’s guts drop out. He turns around to stare at Steve. “ _What?_ ”

Steve’s jaw trembles. “Figures. You settled for me. A cheap buy to have a little fun with, huh? Did your buddies chip in at all, or did you have to eat the whole cost?”

Bucky feels sick. “Steve!” he shouts, desperately wanting to get the omega to shut up. “STOP. STOP TALKING RIGHT NOW.”

Steve’s mouth snaps shut like it’s on a spring. Bucky is staring at him, trying to untangle the horrified thoughts in his brain to figure out what to say first. “I— Why would you—” he gulps, walking over to where Steve is sitting on the couch. “What on _earth_ would make you think I would do that to you?”

Steve’s eyes narrow for a moment, but he breaks under Bucky’s stare and looks away. “S’what happened to my dad,” he says quietly. “He wanted to be with my mom but he got sent to a center. Took my mom two years to track him down. …He’d been passed around a lot by the time she found him.” Steve looks up at Bucky. “I don’t know who my real sire is. Some sleazeball.”

Bucky swallows heavily. He sinks down onto the couch, heart aching. Suddenly, Steve’s mother’s motives make _a lot_ more sense. “That’s awful,” Bucky says, tugging on Steve until he has him against his chest, his face buried in Bucky’s neck. “Baby, that is _not_ what I have you here for. That’s not how omegas should be treated, _ever_.” He pulls Steve back and holds his jaw, forcing him to meet his eyes as he tells him, “It’s wrong, what happened to your dad. But it’s also wrong what he and your mother taught you, baby. They robbed you of so much, you don’t even know.” Steve whimpers but Bucky shushes him. He’s got so much anger for Steve, for what’s been done to him; but he doesn’t want Steve to see it. He tells him, “You’re omega, Steve. Do you have any idea how special that is?” Steve doesn’t answer and Bucky says, “You’re a treasure. Anyone who ever has you has an obligation to treat you like that. Your nature is a _good_ thing. It’s one of the most beautiful things there is.” Steve whines unhappily and Bucky shushes him, pressing their lips together in a kiss. When he draws back he says, “I’m so sorry that’s been taken from you, but I promise: I’m going to help you get it back.”

-

After breakfast, Bucky prints out the heat chart that the center emailed him and sticks it on the fridge with magnets. Steve watches him from the floor, where he’d sat at Bucky’s feet and been hand fed his breakfast. “What’s that?” he asks warily.

Bucky glances back at him. “Your heat cycle. I’m supposed to track it for the first few months you’re here. They said you didn’t go into heat while you were at the center. Probably from stress. So you could hit it any time now.”

Steve huffs, and Bucky doesn’t have to turn around to know that he’s embarrassed. “S’okay, Sweetheart,” he says, finishing what he’s doing and capping the marker. “It’s perfectly natural. We’ll get you on a regular cycle and you’ll feel better. Should’a bred you last night but I was too damned tired.” He sighs and looks back at Steve sympathetically. “The sooner you take a knot the better.”

The omega gets that look on his face that lets Bucky know his temper is about to flare up again. Sure enough, the next thing Bucky knows, the breakfast plates are clattering to the floor, one of them shattering completely. Steve stands up, angry and flushed and his caged cock and balls jostling in a way that is altogether too enjoyable for Bucky. Steve runs over to the bookcase by the front door and grabs the crystal award Bucky had gotten at a classic cars event last year for best motorcycle restoration. Bucky groans at the sight of it in Steve’s little hands. “Steve, put that down.”

“No!” Steve waves the award like a weapon. “Give me the combination to the door!”

It’s ridiculous. Bucky walks over and holds his hand out for the award. “Not happening. Now stop acting up and give it here.”

Steve swipes out, nearly hitting Bucky with it. “You can’t do this to me!”

“I can and I will— _Christ!_ ” The back of Bucky’s hand gets gashed by the glass as he wrestles Steve into a hold. The award falls to the ground with a heavy clunk, just barely missing Steve’s toes. “Goddammit, Steve!” He wraps Steve’s arms around himself in a standing basket hold, then drags him back into the bedroom. Steve screams as soon as he realizes where Bucky’s taking him, but his struggles prove fruitless. Bucky tethers the collar to the restraint board and works from there. By the time he’s got all the straps locked down, he’s panting heavily and Steve’s a crying mess. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” 

Bucky doesn’t even listen. “You’re gonna stay here until you calm down,” he tells him. “Then it’s back into the harness. I thought we could move on from that but I guess not. You can take your spanking _after_ my friends leave, if you don’t fight me when I let you off the board.” Steve keeps sniveling, and even though Bucky desperately wants to hold him close and comfort him, he does neither of those things. He forces himself to get to his feet and leave the room, shutting the door behind him. Steve wails for a bit, before the wails turn to screams and the screams turn to curses. Bucky considers gagging him again but decides against it. Steve will never learn self-control if Bucky’s just shutting him up by force every time he misbehaves. The gag is a tool for training, but Bucky doesn’t want to depend on it. He turns the volume on the tv up and lets Steve cry it out.

By the time a knock comes at the door, Bucky hasn’t heard a peep out of Steve for close to forty-five minutes. He goes and unlocks the door, apologizing to his friends for the extra security measures. Sam just smiles in understanding, while Brock laughs. “He’s a handful, huh?”

Bucky gets why Brock’s laughing, but he’s not amused. “He was abused,” he tells Brock. “Center said it was one of the worst cases they’ve seen in a year.”

Sam whistles and Brock sobers. “Aw, shit. I’m sorry man.”

“S’okay.” Bucky waves them in to sit, relocking the door and grabbing each of them a beer. They take them and sip while Bucky says, “We uh, we had a bit of a rough morning. He’s been locked down for a while, to get him to calm down.”

“You should tan his hide,” Brock says, shrugging off the glare he gets from Sam. “Hey, it worked just fine on my girl when she was new.”

“There are other ways of behavior modification,” Sam says darkly. Brock just scoffs.

“Yeah yeah. Mr. Psychiatric.”

“I’m a _counselor_.”

“Whatever.” Brock looks back to Bucky. “So what’s up? Can we see him?”

Bucky nods. “Sure. But don’t um, don’t do anything that he could perceive as sexual advances, okay?”

Both Sam and Brock look askance. “Dude! We would never!”

“I know, I know. Just…” Bucky winces. “He’s had a rough upbringing, okay? I don’t want him to be scared.”

Sam nods, quickly followed by Brock. “‘Course,” Brock says. 

Bucky goes back to the bedroom. He smiles softly when he sees that Steve has fallen asleep. _God_ , but his face is so soft and peaceful in sleep. Bucky wishes he could always be like this, can’t wait until he has him broken-in and Steve can be this at peace all the time. _Soon_ , he promises himself. He walks over to the board and crouches down, tickling at the side of Steve’s face. “Hey, sweet thing, wake up for me.”

Steve’s eyes blink open, awareness flooding over him. His cheeks color instantly and he croaks out a, “Hey,” voice groggy from sleep and too much yelling. 

Bucky smiles down at him. “You calmed down enough for me to let you out?” Steve’s eyes widen, then he nods. Bucky raises his eyebrows, doubtful. “Remember, it’s straight into the harness.”

Steve bites his lip, looking mortified but nodding his head. “Kay.”

“Good boy.” Bucky unbuckles the straps starting at Steve’s ankles and working his way up. When he unlatches the collar from the board, Steve sits up right away. Bucky tenses, prepared for a fight. But it never comes. Steve just sits there and blinks expectantly at him. Bucky looses a breath of relief. “Sweetheart, yes. That’s good. _Thank you_ for listening.” He hugs Steve, and Steve is limp in it but he doesn’t push away. Bucky scents him, picking up on Steve’s warring desire and distress. He nuzzles against the hinge of his jaw for a moment to draw out more of the former. “I’m proud of you, Omega,” he purrs. Steve shudders under his palms.

The harness takes a long couple of minutes to get on, though far less than before, since Steve isn’t fighting it this time. He lets Bucky adjust the restraints without making a fuss, merely whining and squirming at certain points. Bucky calms him with gentle sounds and the occasional tap to his caged cock, and once he’s got Steve fully restrained, the omega is placid again. “Good boy,” Bucky reiterates, thinking that too much praise never hurt anything. He hefts Steve to his feet and walks him slowly out to the living room, where Sam and Brock are waiting. They stop talking the second they see Bucky appear with Steve.

“Oh, man. He’s so small,” Brock says.

Steve whimpers, tucking himself into Bucky’s side. “No, no,” he’s whimpering. “Who are they? I want clothes.”

Bucky hugs him, letting the omega use his body to hide his nakedness. He pets his hair. “Shh, they’re just my friends, remember? They won’t hurt you. Won’t even touch you, I promise. They just want to say hi.”

Steve shakes his head desperately. “I want clothes,” he mumbles.

Bucky chuckles and grips him by the neck, forcing him to walk ahead into the room. “Clothes are a privilege, remember?” he asks. “They have to be earned, and the only thing you’ve earned today is a spanking.”

Steve inhales sharply, legs folding obediently when Bucky pushes him to sit on the floor. Bucky leaves him there, going to grab a beer for himself from the fridge. He opens it, leaning against the counter and watching as Sam and Brock look Steve over. “He’s your first, right?” Brock asks.

Bucky nods. “Yeah. I’d applied before but,” he shrugs. “You know.”

“Yeah,” Brock says, eyes falling back down to Steve. “Only the runts for ex-cons like us.”

Bucky bristles at the word that’s practically a pejorative. He notices how Steve’s eyes flick over to him in interest. “I’ve paid my dues,” Bucky says. “He’s what I wanted. Once Eric brought me in? All I had to do was take one look at him, and I knew.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Bucky glances down to Steve and meets his gaze. “He’s worth the work.”

Steve’s eyes widen, but before he can say or do anything, Sam’s nodding cheerfully and saying, “Congratulations, man. I’m happy for you.”

Bucky smiles. “Thanks.” Sam’s his best friend, had helped him out a lot after he’d gotten back from war, and even after he’d done his stint in prison. Bucky really doesn’t know where he’d be without Sam, or without Brock, who’d given him a job when no one else would. “It means a lot, you know?”

Sam nods. “If things don’t progress, you know we do private sessions for special needs omegas,” he says. “We can get them in line pretty fast.”

It’s a friendly offer, but Bucky sees Steve bristle out of the corner of his eye. He thinks that he probably should have gagged him for this socialization. “We’re not there yet,” Bucky says. “But I’ll let you know.”

“So what’re your plans, huh?” Brock asks. “You gonna breed him?” He’s looking dubiously at Steve as he says it, probably thinking about his frail stature.

“Yeah I dunno,” Bucky says. “The center recommended we try, but I don’t want to put him through too much too fast. He hasn’t even hit heat yet.” Bucky watches as Steve tenses, his lips tightening again as if he’s fighting hard to stay silent.

“What happened to him, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sam says.

“Omega parents. The dad was gang-raped. The parents went on and raised him with some pretty fucked up values.” 

Steve glares over at Bucky, looking ready to spit something nasty out, but Bucky just raises an eyebrow at him and that seems to cow the kid. He clenches his jaw and looks back down to the floor.

“Shit,” Brock is saying. “Hey man, if you need more than the one week off of work…”

Bucky shakes his head. “I’ve got plans for if I need to leave him home alone. I know we’re short-staffed.” Brock shrugs. It’s the truth. Bucky smirks. “S’not like I have a long commute. I can just pop upstairs every few hours.”

“Yeah,” Brock says. “No problem.” He looks back down at Steve. “I’d say you could bring him down and keep him in the office, but…”

Bucky snorts, taking a sip from his beer. “No way. I wouldn’t trust him not to use the car lift to murder us all.”

Brock laughs. They chat for awhile longer, but when Steve starts to squirm uncomfortably on his knees, Sam notices. He nods and pulls Brock up from the couch. “C’mon,” he says. “We’d better get going, leave these two at it.” 

Brock grunts and nods, following Sam to the door. “Thanks for letting us see him,” he says. He looks over at Steve and gives him a little wave. “Be good for him, squirt. He’ll take good care of you.”

Steve’s jaw is clenched tight, unreciprocating. Bucky is just glad he doesn’t snap something nasty back at Brock. When Sam follows Brock out the door, he looks back and smiles at Steve, saying, “It was nice to meet you, Steve.”

Steve looks taken-aback by the words, his mouth gaping a little as Bucky shuts and relocks the door. Bucky looks over at him. “You didn’t back talk at all. Do you have any idea how proud I am of you for that?” He goes over and takes Steve’s face in his hands, dipping down to kiss him, deep and wet. Steve moans into it, unable to struggle away because of the harness. Bucky reaches down and cups Steve’s caged cock in his warm palm. “You’ve still gotta take your punishment for earlier, but if you’re good about that too, I’ll let you come tonight.”

Steve’s eyes light up, before he tamps down the reaction and goes stone-faced again. Bucky nods, accepting that. “Come on,” he says. “I don’t have a spanking bench so this’ll have to do.” He guides Steve to stand at the end of the couch, then pushes him until he’s bent over the arm of it, stomach and hips resting against the fabric. Steve’s arms are trapped against his sides so he can’t prop himself up, his face just kind of smooshing into the couch cushion. Bucky takes pity on him and arranges a pillow underneath his head. “There. That comfortable?”

“Relatively,” Steve says dryly. Bucky snickers. 

“You’re gonna be a smart mouth no matter what, huh?”

“Yes.”

Bucky’s not so sure he’d prefer it otherwise, so he says nothing. He just takes his belt out from its loops and folds it over. He holds it well past the middle, because Steve may have acted up but he certainly doesn’t deserve a full-on beating. A short strap hurts less. He holds the leather to Steve’s ass, tapping there gently to let him know what he’s got coming to him. “I’d use my hand,” he says. “But you need to learn your place. You could’ve hurt yourself today, and that’s not acceptable.” Bucky makes no mention of how Steve had hurt _him_. He doesn’t care about that, hardly even thinks about the bandage that’s wound around his hand right now. It’s Steve he cares about. He has to teach the omega his place. He owes him that much. “Ten licks,” he says softly. Steve whimpers, and Bucky brings the belt down for number one.

Steve cries, of course. Bucky fully-expects the tears and the curses and he doesn’t hold them against Steve at all. He hauls Steve up once it’s over, hugging him to his body and pressing his head against his chest for him to cry it out. “Shh, shhh,” he soothes, making a rumble low in his chest to calm him. “S’okay, sweetheart. It’s all okay. You’re good. You’re just fine.”

Steve continues to sniffle and make angry, hurt noises into Bucky’s chest, but he doesn’t struggle much. When he finally quiets, Bucky takes him into the bathroom and sits him down on the toilet. He holds a tissue to his nose and tells him to blow, and when Steve just sits there obstinately, Bucky rolls his eyes and uses his Voice. “STEVE, BLOW YOUR DAMN NOSE.” Steve does. Bucky throws the tissue away and fills the bathtub up. 

They repeat the routine of last night, only this time Bucky leaves Steve’s cock in the cage and doesn’t jerk him off. Steve scents disappointed, even though he doesn’t say anything or make any noises. Bucky smiles to himself as he figures that the sweet thing is trying to hide it. When he gets him dried off and into the bedroom, Bucky leaves him unrestrained. He doesn’t even re-collar him, just pulls him up onto the bed and lays him out.   
Steve looks at him wide-eyed. “What’re you gonna do?” The light scent of apprehension says that he’s scared, but the heavier scent of his bottom slicking up says different. Bucky pulls him close and kisses him, telling him,

“Gonna have sex with you, Sweetheart.”

Steve squirms hard. “No!”

Bucky doesn’t roll his eyes this time, even though the reaction is completely predictable. He catches Steve’s wrists in his hands and holds them to the bed, rolling over him bodily until he’s laying between his legs. Steve trembles, thighs instinctively shooting up to cradle Bucky at his hips. Bucky rumbles in approval. “See? Your body knows what to do.” He bends down and kisses at Steve’s sweet, slack mouth. “You just gotta stop fighting it, honey. M’gonna take care of you. You don’t have to worry at all.” He slides his hips against Steve’s, rubbing his erection against his belly and making him whimper. “It’s gonna feel so good,” he promises. “Look at that. Look down, Steve.”

Steve does, his frightened eyes shooting down to where their cocks are trapped between their bellies—Bucky’s large and thick and leaking precum already, and Steve’s all small and kept soft inside the cage. Steve whimpers even as desire floods off him in waves. He turns his head, trying to hide his face in the pillows. 

“No you don’t,” Bucky says. “STEVE, LOOK AT ME, BABY.”

Steve whines loudly at that but he obeys, eyes dragging up until they meet Bucky’s. 

“You see?” Bucky says, rocking his hips more, feeling his balls sliding in the slick that’s gathered between Steve’s legs. “It isn’t bad, being my omega. It’s good.” He presses his face into Steve’s neck and licks at his scent gland, nipping the bite mark. “I’ll always make you feel so good, Sweetheart,” he says, groaning at one particularly good rub of his dick against Steve’s belly. Steve starts wiggling beneath him, and this time it’s not in a fight to get away. He’s keening high, needy omega sounds, maybe not even aware that he’s doing it. That’s alright though, Bucky thinks. He knows what Steve needs, and he’ll give it to him.

He releases Steve’s wrists and kneels back, grabbing Steve by the hips and flipping him over with hardly any effort. Steve grunts and cries out, scrambling to get away, but Bucky just tuts and pushes him down by the back of the neck. He Holds him down like that, feeling the omega’s body go pliant from the pressure on his glands. It reminds Bucky of that first time in the breeding room at the center, how he’d calmed Steve down and fucked him hard enough to rock the breeding bench across the floor. Bucky shivers as he thinks about it. “That’s it, sweet thing,” he says down at Steve. He yanks the omega’s hips up so that he’s presented, then releases his Hold and waits to see if Steve struggles away. He’ll collar him and tether to the bed, if needed. But Steve doesn’t struggle, and it isn’t needed. Bucky smiles and runs his hands up and down Steve’s slim back. “Good boy,” he praises. “So good for me.” 

He slips one hand down to cup Steve’s sex, fingers sliding through the slick on his perineum as he pushes into him with a thumb. Steve downright _squeals_ at the feeling, jerking away even as more slick gushes from his hole. “Stop, stop!” he yells. “Oh please, it hurts.”

Bucky freezes. “What?” He pulls his hand away. “What hurts, baby?”

Steve shivers, moaning but keeping his hips up in the air. “Your finger. Inside. …hurts.” Bucky frowns. Carefully, he reaches forward to trace gentle fingers around Steve’s rim. Steve whimpers but holds still for him. Bucky presses, applying pressure but not enough to penetrate him. It’s only when he slips his finger in that Steve jerks in pain again. “Oh!” 

Bucky pulls his hand back and steadies Steve, pushing him to lie down flat against the sheets. “Shh. I’m sorry that hurt you, Sweetheart. Just hold still for me okay? I’m gonna go call the doctor.”

In the kitchen, Bucky tries to keep his voice low as he speaks to one of the on-call physicians at the center. The woman asks him several questions, but when Bucky explains that the pain Steve feels only comes at penetration, she seems to know what’s going on. “You’ve let him go too long without breeding him,” she says, as if Bucky’s an idiot who should have known this.

Bucky frowns. “What do you mean? He was a virgin until last Monday. He was fine for the first nineteen years of his life.”

The doctor explains that Bucky _is_ , indeed, an idiot, and that since Steve is now bonded, and since the bond is still so new, Bucky can’t let him go long without a knotting. “It’s not good for him,” the woman explains. “His glands are probably impacted. That’s what’s causing the pain.”

Bucky swallows heavily. “Tell me what I have to do,” he says.

When Bucky hangs up from the call and returns to Steve, he sees that Steve has calmed and his arousal has ramped back up. The muscles in his shoulders tense when Bucky sits down on the bed with him. Bucky hushes him and pets his back. “Hey, it’s okay,” he says. “I talked to the doctor. She says you’re okay.”

Steve peeks over at him. “I am?”

Bucky’s heart melts. “Yeah, honey. It’s my fault that you were hurting. I left you go too long without being bred. Your… your slick glands need depressed.”

Steve’s eyes widen and then he blushes massively, scrubbing his face into the sheets. “Nooo.”

Bucky comforts him by rubbing his back. “I know, I know. But it’s gonna be okay. I’m gonna help you feel better.” Steve shakes his head and makes a small effort to get up, but Bucky shoves him back down into the bed. “Let’s do this without restraints, okay Sweetheart?”

Steve pants heavily for a moment before he gives in and nods. “…okay.”

“Good boy.” Bucky cups Steve’s bottom as he moves back behind him. He pulls his hips back up to presenting and massages at his entrance. It’s wet, but Bucky knows it’s about to get a lot wetter, if what the doctor told him is anything to go by. “This’ll hurt like before,” he warns. “But only for a minute. I’m gonna make it better. Try and hold still for me, okay?”

Steve whimpers in fear but he manages to nod. “Okay. Please be careful.”

Bucky’s heart squeezes. He bends down and places a kiss to one of the bony knobs of Steve’s spine. “Promise,” he says. Then he presses a finger in.  
Steve cries out sharply. He jerks in pain but doesn’t try to pull away further. Bucky makes a low, soothing sound in his chest and feels around with his finger. It’s not hard to identify the impacted slick glands. They’re hard little clusters on either side of his passage that feel _way_ too big. Steve whimpers high in his throat when Bucky touches them, and Bucky’s guts clench with guilt and sympathy. “Shh, shhh,” he says. “S’okay.” He starts pressing down on the first gland, rubbing firmly like the doctor had told him to. 

Steve lets out a wail that turns into a moan, tortured and pitiful sounding. He shoves his hips back against Bucky’s hand. “ _Oh_ ,” he moans, “Oh, oh _please_.”

Bucky presses his forehead against Steve’s lower back, feeling like dirt that he’s let this happen. He continues pressing against the first cluster, rubbing and rubbing over the glands until they stop feeling so hard, until they go down and slick is gushing out of Steve, coating Bucky’s hand and dripping down to the bedsheets. He groans, dick twitching at the feeling of all that slick, at the _smell_ of it. Bucky tries to hold in the growl that wants to come. _This first_ , he thinks. He has to make Steve feel better first. 

With the one side done, Bucky has enough room to press another finger in to join the first. Steve sobs at the intrusion, hips pressing back and hole clutching around Bucky’s fingers like it’s a cock his body wants to milk. Bucky finds the second cluster and repeats the slow, hard pressing, rubbing at the spot until the tension slips out of Steve’s body. Bucky pulls back, pulls his fingers out and looks down at his drenched hand. “Stevie,” he whispers, enraptured at the sight of all that slick; on his hand, the sheets, Steve’s ass and the backs of his thighs. It’s just _everywhere_. The arousal Bucky feels is dampened by another wave of shame and guilt. _He’d_ let this happen to his omega. Him. Bucky sinks over Steve and kisses at the back of his neck. “I’m sorry baby. I’m so sorry.”

Steve shivers, but he isn’t crying anymore. Just moans and keeps pulsing his hips back to where Bucky was touching him only a second ago. Only now it’s not his hand that Steve’s ass bumps, it’s his cock. Bucky moans at the feeling, the urge to mount him coming on strong again. “Okay,” he breathes. “Okay, honey. C’mere.” He sits back on his heels and draws Steve’s caged cock and balls back through his legs. Steve whimpers and tries to close his legs, but Bucky just slaps them open again. “Hold still,” he says. “You’ll like this.” He pushes the three plastic buttons in back in the correct order to get the cage to click open. He takes the pieces off one by one and sets them aside. Steve’s cock fills with blood pretty quickly, chubbing up to half mast. Bucky chuckles. “Remember how I said you’d get to come tonight, if you were good?”

Steve moans, nodding his forehead against the sheets. “Yeah.”

Bucky kneels back up and pulls Steve’s bottom back against his erection, sliding his dick through the copious amounts of slick. Steve whimpers as Bucky lets his eyes slip shut for a moment at the feeling. He imagines slipping inside of Steve and rutting into him mindlessly until his knot pops and he fucking… 

Bucky sighs, opening his eyes back up and stilling his thrusting hips. Not yet. This first. “Gonna milk you,” he tells Steve. “Get your balls emptied and let you come from your cock one last time, okay?” Steve makes a scared sound but Bucky shushes him with a laugh. “Not _ever_ ,” he tells him. “Just for awhile. I told you: we’ve gotta get you used to coming naturally.” Steve grumbles, discontent, but Bucky just squeezes the back of his neck. “Shh, you know it’s good for you.”

“No I don’t!” Steve hisses. 

Bucky swats him on the ass. “Hush.” Without the bulk of the cage, Steve’s cock is too small to draw back down between his thighs, so Bucky reaches around and holds it in front. Steve inhales sharply through his nose, hips jutting forward out of his control. Bucky snickers. “Yeah, feels good doesn’t it?” Steve just grunts in discontent, and Bucky reaches for his backside with his other hand. His fingers slide through the slick, finding the tight little furl of his asshole and circling it gently. More slick leaks out. Bucky groans. “God, Steve. Look at that. You’re so wet.”

Steve huffs. “I thought you said I’d get to come?” he snaps.

“Shut the fuck up and you will.” Bucky presses in with two fingers, the give of Steve’s body easy and sweet. “Fuck,” Bucky breathes, feeling his own dick twitch from the feeling of it. “You just let me right in, don’t you Sweetheart?” When Steve says nothing, Bucky pulls on his little cock, thumbs at the head to get him moaning. The arousal that’s coming off of Steve is thick and honey-sweet. It makes Bucky want to bury his face in the kid’s neck and never come up for air. In his head, he thinks that there’s no way he’ll be able to keep himself from breaking right through the barely-healed skin of Steve’s mating bite, the first time he fucks him. _Oh well_ , he thinks. It’ll scar better that way.

He keeps fingering Steve’s cock, jacking it lightly but not enough to get him off. He starts stroking over Steve’s insides with his other hand, pulsing firmly on his prostate. It’s just as big as it’s meant to be, which makes Bucky sigh in relief for Steve—the suppressants hadn’t caused this part of him to shrink up, at least. “Feel good?” he asks Steve as he pushes against his prostate, not really gentle the way he would be for pure pleasure—this is more mechanical, meant to achieve an end. When Steve nods weakly against the sheets, Bucky rewards him with a firmer tug on his cock. “Good,” Bucky says. “Gonna get you emptied.” What little spunk Steve’s body produces is completely unnecessary, as far as Bucky is concerned. He releases Steve’s cock and starts tapping against his balls to work the process along. 

Steve whimpers and humps back onto his fingers. 

“These are pretty pointless,” Bucky says to him about his balls, almost conversationally. “Might get you fixed.” The surgery is fairly simple, or so he’s heard. Maybe it could help Steve along. He’ll ask the doctor at the center, later. 

Steve makes a scared, unhappy noise. “No! No please. Please I’ll do whatever you want. I won’t ever touch ‘em again. I promise!” 

“Shhh.” Bucky goes back to tugging on Steve’s cock to distract him. “We’re not making any decisions right now, Sweetheart.” He fucks his fingers into Steve hard, just once, then goes back to milking him. “Besides, I’ll always rub your clit too, if you ask nice and you’ve earned it.”

Steve moans pitifully at that, squirming and trying to thrust into Bucky’s palm. “S’not a clit,” he whines, which just make Bucky laugh.

“Sure thing, Sweetheart. We’ll see if you’re still singing that tune when you’ve got your hands wrapped around mine.” He presses firmly, unrelentingly on Steve’s prostate, abandoning his cock to tap at his balls again as he starts to pulse around Bucky’s fingers and come. Bucky looks down to watch as the clear omega spunk shoots out of him. It’s not much, but Steve wails and shakes through it as if it’s the best thing he’s ever felt. Bucky’s heart warms with pride at having made his omega feel so good. “ _There_ you go,” he soothes, thrusting his fingers lightly a few more times to be sure. “Get it all out, honey.”

Steve sobs, collapsing forward onto the bed from the orgasm. Bucky lays down next to him and pets his back while he cries and recovers. “You’re okay,” he tells him, rubbing his wrist to his neck and watching as Steve slowly responds to it, calming down. When Steve opens his eyes, Bucky smiles at him. “You’re beautiful, you know that?” 

The blush that colors Steve’s cheeks is glorious. “I’m scrawny.”

Bucky laughs. “Yeah, but I like you that way.”

Steve makes a face. “What? You do?”

“Of course.” Bucky kisses him, moving their lips together briefly. “The smaller the better, in my opinion. You’re so goddamn delicate. It does it for me.”

For a second, Steve’s eyes darken with arousal, but then they’re shuttering, his face going back to obstinate and angry. “Yeah well what about what does it for me, huh?”

Bucky sighs, though he smiles too. He gets up and yanks Steve back into presenting. “God, you don’t give up, do you?” Steve grunts but manages not to curse at him, which satisfies Bucky. Progress is progress. “Here,” he says, holding himself and guiding his cock to Steve’s entrance. Steve whimpers and tries to squirm away, but Bucky just hauls him back, slipping in before the omega can fight any further. 

Steve yelps at the penetration. “Oh!”

“Shh. You’re okay,” Bucky soothes, even though he knows Steve isn’t in pain. Even if his scent didn’t betray him, Steve’s channel is clenching already, throbbing with contractions that’ll only get stronger the farther they go. Bucky grits his teeth at the feeling of it. He can’t get too worked up, not yet. He has to fuck his omega good before he knots him. “You ready?” he asks Steve. 

What would’ve been a _“Fuck you,”_ just a day ago is now just an angry little growl. Bucky laughs darkly and gives him a good, hard thrust. Steve’s chest collapses to the bed and his ass tilts up farther. “Oh, _god_ ,” he moans. “ _Alpha_.”

Bucky’s entire lower body clenches up at hearing that. It’s the first time Steve has said it. He curls over Steve’s back and holds him tightly, rumbling approval and telling him he’s good. “So fucking good, Omega,” he says. He plants his hands on either side of Steve and starts really fucking him, thrusting his cock in and out of his slick channel with obscene, wet squelches. Steve sobs and takes it, holding his ass up for Bucky and bending his neck subconsciously. Bucky’s eyes zero in on the offering and he goes down to scrape his teeth over the sore spot. Steve yelps again, trying to pull away from the pain. Bucky isn’t having it, though. He’s close already, can tell from the desperate squeeze of Steve’s body that the omega will probably come again if Bucky knots him. So he does just that, biting down hard enough to rebreak the skin and reveling in the pleasure-pained wail Steve gives, the way his body clamps down on his cock, _hard_. Bucky starts to come, his knot growing where he holds it inside Steve. 

“Oh! Oh uh, uh, ah.” Steve pants out little grunts as he’s tied, alternately trying to pull away and push back on it. The motion causes Bucky’s knot to tug insistently on his rim, which makes Steve cry out louder and Bucky curse up a storm, his orgasm only made stronger by it. 

“Fuck, fuck!” He grinds his face into Steve’s shoulder and humps against him as hard as he can, drawing the pleasure out and emptying his balls inside of the omega. He grunts and pants through it, only vaguely aware of Steve’s quick orgasm and whimpers that follow. Bucky’s not done yet, his knot pulsing inside Steve for long minutes as Steve endures beneath him. When it’s just the slow, steady aftershocks that are left, some sense returns to Bucky. He kisses at Steve’s bleeding neck in apology, though he’s not really sorry. He pulls them onto their sides while his body continues to unload inside the omega, making low, rumbling sounds in his chest to calm him, hips tugging his knot against Steve’s rim all the while. It’s not something Bucky can really help, and it’ll be good for draining Steve’s slick glands, anyway. When Steve cries from it, Bucky kisses his neck and apologizes, saying, “I’m sorry, Sweetheart. Promise we won’t let them get like that again. I’ll keep you on a good schedule, kay?”

In front of him, Steve clenches his eyes shut and nods despite himself. “Okay.”

More slick than normal continues to leak out of his little body. It gets all over Steve’s ass and Bucky’s thighs, but Bucky couldn’t care less. He just tugs Steve against him and noses at his neck, grunting at every whimper, promising him the world without saying a word.

They fall asleep that way.


	4. 4

As the week passes, things with Steve progress. It’s painfully slow-going, but still better than Bucky could have hoped for in the beginning.

There’s only one serious incident, and it takes place on the fourth day. Bucky leaves Steve home alone for the first time, feeling like he’s going to go out of his mind if he skips one more gym day. He tethers Steve’s lead to the couch cable and leaves him with the tv on. There’s nothing he can hurt himself with, so Bucky feels confident that a forty-five minute absence won’t do any harm.

Well, Steve proves him wrong. When Bucky arrives back from the gym, there’s a cop car sitting outside _Rumlow’s Auto_. Bucky takes the metal stairs up to the apartment, gut dropping out when he’s halfway up the stairs and sees that the door’s been broken in. He rushes forward, feeling sick at the thought that someone’s broken in and murdered Steve, and now the cops have come to clean up the mess. Bucky’s already got tears in his eyes by the time he makes it into the apartment and sees Steve, sitting on the couch and perfectly alive. Bucky exhales incredibly loudly. “What happened?”

Steve cringes and looks away, not answering. He just clutches the grey emergency blanket the policemen have given him. Bucky frowns, before his attention is diverted by one of the officers. “Are you James Barnes?” she asks.

Bucky gapes, brain trying to catch up to what could possibly be happening before he can bring himself to answer, “Yeah. Yes, I am.”

“I see.” The woman nods over at Steve. “This your omega?”

“Yes,” Bucky says. 

“You got paperwork that says that?” the cops asks, halfway dubious. 

Bucky nods, baffled. “Yeah, here.” He goes over to grab his laptop and open it, bringing up Steve’s files and showing them to the officer. “I haven’t had time to register, but he’s paid for.” Bucky eyes the woman worriedly. “What’s wrong? Has someone filed a noise complaint?” Bucky doesn’t have adjacent neighbors. He hadn’t thought Steve’s tantrums were _that_ loud…

“No,” the cop says, looking slightly amused. She shuts Bucky’s laptop and hands it back to him. “We got a call about a kidnapping.”

“What?! From who?!”

The woman raises her eyebrows and tips her head at Steve—Steve, who looks like he’s trying to disappear into the blanket. “Said he was being held here illegally.” She looks Bucky up and down. “Obviously that’s not true.”

“Of course not!” Bucky glances over at Steve, hurt lancing in his chest almost as badly as the anger that’s there. “You seriously called the cops?” He glances around, spotting his cell phone sitting feet away from Steve on the end table. Bucky grits his teeth. “On my _own_ phone?”

Steve’s lower lip quivers, but he sticks his chin out and says, “You shouldn’t have left it.”

Bucky feels his face flush with anger but forces himself to push it down. He focuses on the officer that’s still standing there. “He’s okay, I take it?”

The officer nods. “Yeah. We untethered him when we got here, but when we started asking him questions, his answers didn’t match up.” She glances sideways at Steve, who scowls at her like she’s traitor. “We get a lot of calls like this,” she tells Bucky sympathetically. "Most are actually way more creative. Yours just said you stole him.”

“He _did_ ,” Steve pipes up from the couch, though he shrinks back some at Bucky’s resultant glare. 

“You sit tight,” he tells the omega, pointing at him warningly. “Don’t dig your hole deeper, Steve.”

Steve’s eyes flare bright, but he tucks into the blanket and doesn’t say any more. Bucky faces the officer again. “I am so, so sorry,” he says. “I know you all work hard. I really apologize for wasting your time.”

The woman shrugs. She might be annoyed, but if she is she hides it well. “Eh, it happens.” She offers Bucky her hand, and Bucky shakes it. “Just give him a talk about it, okay?” she says. “Make sure he understands that we could be off helping people who really need it.”

“I will, I promise. Thank you officer.”

The woman and her partner leave, and Bucky is left to stare between Steve, the broken-in door, and then Steve again. Steve whimpers from underneath his blanket. “I’m sorr—”

“DON’T,” Bucky says in his Voice. “DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME YOU’RE SORRY, STEVE.” Steve shuts up, and Bucky takes a second to process this, to try and calm down. He goes over to examine the broken door and determines that it’s a total loss; it’ll have to be replaced. “Fuck,” he mutters. That’s an expense he wasn’t anticipating, especially since he’s dumped so much of his last paycheck on Steve’s care, already. “Fuck!” he says again, this time louder. “S’gonna cost at least five hundred.” Bucky used to have a landlord—Brock—but had negotiated a _much_ lower rent in exchange for being responsible for any repairs under five grand. Bucky’s good about not breaking stuff, but his new omega clearly isn’t. Bucky turns to stare at him. “What do you have to say for yourself?” he asks. Steve, for his part, looks completely cowed. He smells that way too, sorrow and fear coming off him in waves. “Oh,” Bucky scoffs. “You regret what you did?”

Steve nods quickly. “Yes. I’m sorry!”

“I thought I told you not to apologize,” Bucky says, voice like steel. He can see how Steve reacts to it, shrinking under his displeasure, making himself even smaller in the blanket.

“M’sorry Alpha,” he says.

Bucky’s gut tugs, heart squeezing at hearing his omega call him that when he’s so clearly sorry and upset. Bucky has to grit his teeth to keep from saying anything to comfort him. Steve needs correction, and that’s what he’s going to get. Bucky goes and snatches up Steve’s lead that the cops had detached, locking it back in place and pointing at the floor. “Sit there.”

Steve moves to comply, gasping softly when Bucky pulls the blanket off him as he moves. Bucky tosses it aside carelessly. “Get used to it,” he says. “You’re gonna be naked for a long time.”

Steve swallows but says nothing. He kneels down on the carpet and lowers his head. “Yes, Alpha.”

Bucky likes it instinctively, even though he can’t be sure if Steve’s saying it because he’s giving into his nature more these days, or because he’s trying to manipulate Bucky into forgiving him. Bucky would bet money on the latter. “LOOK UP AT ME,” he commands. Steve does. Bucky stares at him long and hard, trying to suss out what sort of punishment this warrants. In all honesty, he should probably go Brock’s route and thrash the living hell out of Steve’s ass, make sure he can’t sit for a week. But Bucky doesn’t want to destroy all the progress they’ve made so far. He decides he’ll talk it out with him, first. Then he’ll decide on punishment.

Bucky sits down on the couch and faces Steve. “So, you called the cops on my phone and told them you needed rescued.”

Steve bites his lip, cheeks burning. He nods silently.

“SAY ‘YES, ALPHA’,” Bucky commands, zero patience for Steve’s shyness.

“…Yes, Alpha,” he murmurs.

“And when they got here? What did you think would happen? Did you really think they’d wouldn’t figure it out?”

Steve shrugs. “I… I dunno. I guess not.”

“Well that’s just stupid, Steve,” Bucky says. “And if they’d believed you? You _do_ know where they’d have sent you, don’t you?” Steve blanches, obviously not having thought that far ahead in his plan. “Yeah,” Bucky says. “A center. You’d be back to square one.”

Steve squirms, obviously trying to keep quiet before he finally breaks and cries, “I’m sorry! I didn’t think. I just wanted to go.”

Bucky shakes his head. “Go where Steve? We’ve already talked this out. You _know_ there isn’t a place for you to be on your own. That’s not gonna work.”

Steve’s face screws up as he starts to cry. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “I’m sorry, m’sorry.” He tucks into himself, no longer meeting Bucky’s gaze, and Bucky gets the distinct feeling that the kid is crying just as much for his lost hope of an independent life, as he is for having disappointed Bucky.

_That_ tugs at Bucky’s heart strings. He gets up and goes over to Steve, kneeling in front of him. “You can’t take care of yourself,” he says gently. “It’s better that you learned now, don’t you think?”

Steve sniffles, not looking up from his folded arms. He makes a noncommittal noise. 

“STEVE,” Bucky Voices, getting the omega to look up at him. “Hey,” he reaches to cup his jaw with one hand. Steve noses against his wrist right away—something he’s never done unprompted before. Bucky takes that as a good sign, that his omega is starting to seek out his scent for comfort. “You understand why, don’t you?” he asks. “Come on, I know you’re a smart boy. Tell me you understand.”

It takes Steve a long time to say anything, but eventually he does murmur, “I understand.”

Bucky exhales hugely. He can tell just how much that cost Steve, to admit. “Okay,” he says, sitting down on his butt and pulling Steve into his lap. Steve goes without a fight, tucking his head under Bucky’s chin. “Okay, okay.” Bucky squeezes him and rubs his back. “You really, really scared me, Steve,” he says. “When I saw that squad car outside, when I was coming up and saw the door broken in? I thought something really bad had happened to you.” Bucky buries his nose in Steve’s hair, using the omega’s scent to calm himself. “Don’t ever do this again, Steve. Please. Promise me.”

Steve gets stiff in his arms then, as if he doesn’t want to answer. That hurts Bucky, but he doesn’t press the issue. He just knows that Steve’s punishment will have to be something memorable.

-

Steve gets figged that night. Bucky takes him out to the grocery store on a lead—the first time he’s been out in public since Bucky acquired him—and forces him to select the piece of ginger that’s going up his ass. On the way out, the cashier smiles at them knowingly and Steve turns _beet red_. 

Bucky peels it and lubes it up after dinner, stuffing it in Steve with little preamble. He puts him in the restraint jacket over his lap and proceeds to spank him for a long while. It’s not the hits that are brutal, but rather the sting of the ginger that comes from Steve’s clenching asshole. Steve wails at the burn and tries to twist away, but Bucky just keeps a firm arm wrapped around his waist, holding him down as he continues the spanking. He spends the whole time telling him calmly exactly what this is for, and exactly how Steve needs to act in the future to avoid such punishment. Steve just cries himself snotty.

Later that night, after they’ve showered together and Bucky has calmed Steve down, he fucks him in their bed. He wears a condom in case there’s any lingering ginger inside of Steve, and he fucks him with the least possible amount of stimulation to his prostate. Bucky comes in the condom, knotting outside of Steve’s body and denying him a tie. Steve wails when he realizes this, but Bucky just pulls out, parts his cheeks and spanks his hole. He rolls Steve over onto his back and says, “You honestly thought I’d let you come? After what you did today?”

Steve whimpers but doesn’t argue. 

Bucky nearly scoffs as he realizes that Steve _had_ been expecting to come. “Yeah, no way.” He strips off the condom and goes to throw it away in the bathroom and wipe off his dick. When he gets back to the bed, Steve is squirming in frustration, little hands cupping his caged cock and knocking against it uselessly. “STOP THAT,” Bucky commands. He tugs Steve’s hands off the cage and hauls him up. “You know what’s the worst part, Steve? I was actually starting to trust you. I thought we were making progress.” He yanks Steve’s small body around as he gets him tucked into the restraint jacket, then tethers his collar onto the lead. “It’s one step forward, three steps back with you.”

“M’sorry,” Steve whispers, once Bucky’s got them both lying down and Steve spooned in front of him. 

Bucky’s silent for a long time, making Steve think he’s not deigning to answer him. Finally though, he says, “Do you really mean that?” He can tell Steve does, can smell it on him, can read it in his body language. But he wants to hear the omega say it. 

“I do,” Steve says, tears in his voice. “I do. I’m sorry.” He starts crying for real then, just quiet little sniffles. 

Bucky doesn’t tell him to calm down or try to comfort him. But he does pull him tighter against his chest and tell him to go to sleep, that they’ll start fresh in the morning.

-

Steve’s “Sorry” lasts half a day, but after the disastrous police incident, things do get progressively better.

Steve stops fighting first thing in the mornings, sometimes making it well into the afternoon or even past dinnertime before any behavior pops up that needs to be corrected. He stops cursing and hitting so much and switches to whining and sweet pleading instead. It’s much nicer, but still not acceptable behavior. When Bucky remains firm and doesn’t reward Steve for his behavior, Steve winds up switching back to being mean, eventually.

Bucky fucks him, and on the days when he doesn’t, he at least makes Steve come on his fingers. He’s overly-afraid of Steve’s slick glands getting so bad again and he’s determined to keep that from happening. Steve doesn’t fight the advances that come at night. Sex gets a token growl or a push or two, but he offers absolutely no protest to the milking, offering his ass up like he’s in heat each time that Bucky tells him to present on the bed.

During the day, Steve earns privileges for good behavior. He loses then too, but progress is progress. Most days Steve earns some tv time, most days he winds up in the harness by evening, and at no point does he behave well enough for long enough to earn clothes. The thermostat remains at a steady 75 degrees.

Steve doesn’t know it yet, but there’s nothing he can do to get let out of the cock cage. Bucky has made his mind up that it’s something he wants for the omega. If the cage stays on long enough, Steve’s little cock will get even smaller. He’ll stop associating it as the main source of his sexual pleasure, and that’ll be good for him. Steve can have his cock back when he’s well-trained, not before. Bucky doesn’t tell him this, as he knows that initiating _that_ conversation will just cause a HUGE tantrum; maybe bad enough to warrant the restraint board.

Bucky hasn’t had to strap him down to it since that first time. He hasn’t had to spank him since the figging either, just little swats here and there. Steve seems to have overcome his violent streak. Bucky still puts him in his restraint jacket at night, but he’s been thinking that it may be time to retire it. Steve hasn’t been anything but sweet and docile during the night, even being sweet when he has to nudge Bucky awake to take him to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Bucky could lengthen the lead, he thinks, and Steve could make it to the bathroom on his own without the jacket. 

It’s as he’s standing at the sink next to Steve, the both of them brushing their teeth, that he decides he’ll bring it up over breakfast the next day. Steve will like that. “You did good today,” Bucky tells him, spitting and rinsing and waiting for Steve to do the same. 

Steve finishes and looks up at him. “Thank you.” Slowly but surely, the venom is leaving his words and reactions. 

_He’s settling into it_ , Bucky thinks happily. _He’s accepting his place._ The sooner that happens, the sooner Steve can just be happy and enjoy his life. Bucky wants that so badly for him. He doesn’t want the omega to have to hurt anymore. “Come on,” he tells Steve gently as he takes his hand and leads him to the bed. 

Steve gets up on the bed without being told, ready to present.

Bucky smiles and climbs up on the bed himself, but he lies back against the pillows and says, “Hang on, Sweetheart.” 

Steve looks confused. “What?”

Bucky nods at his own lap, where his cock is just barely starting to stir. “We’re going to do it this way tonight. You’re gonna ride me.”

Steve inhales sharply. His eyes flick over Bucky, taking in his naked body with a new appreciation. “You… you want me to…”

“Yeah,” Bucky says coaxingly. “C’mere. Straddle my lap.”

Steve gulps, but then he does as told. His slim thighs straddle Bucky, and Bucky rubs his palms up and down them. “You’re so beautiful,” he tells him. “I want to watch you move on me.”

Steve shivers, blushing. “I…”

“Say ‘Yes, Alpha’,” Bucky says, the warning of his Voice just on the edge. 

Steve looks down. “Yes, Alpha.”

“Good boy.” Bucky reaches and takes Steve’s tiny hand in his, bringing it to his cock. “Get me hard,” he says softly. He knows this is something new for the omega. He wants to give Steve confidence, not scare him away. “Come on,” he coaxes. “I know you can.” Steve’s hand takes him, hesitant and light. He starts stroking and Bucky sighs. “Yeah. Just work it at the tip… yeah just like that, Sweetheart.”

It’s more the sight of Steve’s pale, unsure hands jerking him than any real skill that gets Bucky’s cock jerking and filling with blood, growing thick against his thigh. Steve gets bolder the harder Bucky gets, his little hands squeezing more firmly and making Bucky grunt in pleasure. He watches with hooded eyes as Steve becomes visibly aroused from it, slick from the omega’s backside getting on Bucky’s thighs. “You like this, honey?” Bucky asks. “Like making me feel good?”

Steve peeks up at him. “Never done it. You’re… It’s big.”

“Yeah?” Bucky smiles. “It’s a lot bigger than yours, huh?”

Steve blushes but he nods. “Yeah.”

“You wanna put your mouth on it?” Bucky asks. He really expects Steve to say no, so he’s taken aback when Steve leans down to lap against the tip of his cock. 

He looks up at Bucky as he figures out the taste. “Oh,” he says. And Bucky laughs. Steve goes back down to suckle at the head with a little more enthusiasm, exploring with soft lips and his tongue. 

Bucky digs his heels into the bed at how damn sweet it is, how warm and good Steve’s mouth feels. He has to force himself not to fuck straight up into Steve’s delicate throat. “Hey,” he says after a little more of Steve mouthing at him. He pulls on Steve’s arms to get him to come up. “Blow job lessons later. I want to watch you ride me now.”

Steve whines, more nerves than anything else. Bucky doesn’t miss how his eyes flit down to his own caged little cock and balls. He’s self-conscious about it being so on display, Bucky realizes. “Oh, no Sweetheart,” he says. “Don’t be embarrassed. I love seein’ it. Love seeing how small and soft it is next to mine, kay?”

Steve peeks up at him, blushing and nodding a little. Bucky smiles. “Good boy.” He reaches back for Steve’s entrance, trailing fingers up and down his crack, gathering slick on his fingers. He teases at Steve’s rim long enough to get him whining and humping back a little, and then he presses in with two fingers, sinking in as Steve’s body takes him beautifully. “Look at that,” Bucky praises. “You open right up for me, dontcha?”

Steve whines one of his whines that’s half embarrassment and half pleasure. It makes it so that Bucky just _has_ to prop himself up and kiss him, threading his free hand through Steve’s short hair and tugging while he slots their mouths together, licking in with his tongue just as he fucks all the way in with his fingers. Steve keens into his mouth from the stimulation, hips already grinding down on them to get more. “Please,” he breathes against Bucky’s mouth. “Please.”

Bucky chuckles. “You gonna dance for me, Sweetheart?” He lays back down and holds Steve by the hips, lifting him to get him positioned over his cock. Steve doesn’t fight him at all as Bucky lines his cock up and eases him down onto it. A soft cry leaves Steve at the penetration, but it’s not pain, not even close. Bucky watches his beautiful face pinch up with overwhelmed pleasure as he sinks down, then waits for him to look up again. When he does, Bucky pulls both of his hands away from Steve’s body and folds them lazily behind his head. “Well?” he says, locking eyes with Steve. “Go on, baby. Dance for me.”

Steve seems to get it all at once, what Bucky means by it. His bright blue eyes widen, then darken to a shade a little darker than they were before. He plants his palms on Bucky’s pectoral muscles and starts to move.

It goes for awhile, much longer than Bucky would have pegged Steve capable of. He lets the omega work himself to exhaustion on his cock, enjoying every second of the show. By the time Steve collapses on top of him, he’s come three times and he’s shaking with exhaustion, unable to achieve his next orgasm on his own. “Help,” he says, breathless. “Please, help me.”

Bucky growls and flips them over, inordinately pleased at the fact that Steve is asking. “Good boy,” he praises, spreading his legs and shoving them up. “That’s a good fucking boy for asking. How do you want to come Sweetheart? Tell me what you need me to do.” Steve seems to flounder, too caught up in his pleasure to figure out what he’s supposed to say. Bucky helps him along. “You want me to touch this?” He places his palm, large and warm, over Steve’s caged cock. “This where you need to be touched, to come?” 

Steve looks terribly conflicted for a moment, but he knows what Bucky’s asking. He squirms and shakes his head, looking ashamed as he admits, “No. Not… not that.”

“Hm.” Bucky fucks his cock in him in a slow, dirty roll. “Here?” 

Steve nods. “Yeah, yeah. Please.”

“SAY IT,” Bucky Voices, “How do need me to make you come, huh? In your tight little cunt?”

Steve gasps on a sob, giving in and nodding. “Yeah, yeah. My cunt, _please_. Need to come on your cock. Need you to— _uh_ —need you to fuck me.”

Bucky’s never heard prettier words in his life. He starts fucking him hard, balls slapping against his slick ass and fingers pinching relentlessly at his puffy little nipples. Before Bucky knows it, Steve’s next orgasm is pulsing through him, making his ass contract around Bucky’s cock and pulling him over the edge as well. He pops his knot inside, Steve’s body locking down on him like a vise. Bucky groans and collapses, stuffing his face in Steve’s neck as he pants and comes buckets.

After, when he’s able to pull out and Steve tries to get up from the bed to go clean up, Bucky stops him. “No,” he says, tone gentle. “Lay back down.”

Steve scrunches his face. “But I’m—”

“I know,” Bucky says. “I know it’s leaking back out. I like it that way.” He shuts his eyes and tugs on Steve’s arm to get him to lay down against his side. Steve is staring at him in the darkness, Bucky can tell. 

“Aren’t you gonna… aren’t you gonna put me in the jacket?” 

Bucky opens his eyes, focusing on Steve’s features in the dark. “Do I need to?”

Slowly, Steve shakes his head. “No.”

Bucky blinks once. “Don’t make me regret it,” he says, then closes his eyes again to sleep.


	5. 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Utter trash. I'm trash (and going to hell in a Gucci handbag)

Steve doesn’t strangle him in his sleep with the cable tether, which Bucky honesty thought he had a seventy/thirty shot at experiencing. But he wakes the next morning to Steve lying next to him, sleepy eyes flicking up and down his body in appreciation. Bucky smirks and says, “Like what you see?” startling Steve and making him squeak. Bucky laughs and pulls Steve over him to lay atop his body. The smell of pleased omega reaches Bucky’s nose, and he couldn’t be happier. Steve hasn’t smelled like that when he’s awake yet. It’s like pancake syrup, and it mixes with the earthier tang of Bucky’s semen that’s still coating all of Steve’s thighs and backside. Bucky grins up at him. “You’re nasty. Why don’t you go take a bath, huh? I’ll make breakfast.”

Again, Steve looks shocked. “I can… on my own?” 

Bucky nods. “The windows and doors are locked, baby. At this point the only thing I’ve gotta worry about is you trying to kill me.” He raises an eyebrow at Steve. “You gonna kill me?”

Steve blushes and looks away. “I dunno,” he mumbles. 

Well, that’s better than _‘Gonna fucking kill you in your sleep!’_. Progress is progress. Bucky takes it.

When Steve comes out of the bathroom wrapped in a little towel, Bucky’s at the stove. He stirs the scrambled eggs around and considers him. “Drop the towel,” he says. Steve does. 

Bucky feeds him breakfast as usual, small forkfuls off his own plate brought down to Steve’s mouth where he sits on the floor. “I’ve gotta go back to work tomorrow,” Bucky tells him. “I’m trying to figure out what I’m gonna do with you.”

Steve’s eyes get wide and he glances up. “Not the board, please.”

 _Aw_. Bucky’s immediately shaking his head, bringing down another bite of peanut butter toast for Steve to chew. “Naw, honey. We won’t use the board. You’ve been really, really good these last few days. I’m wavering between the harness or just a lead.” He studies Steve carefully. “Could you handle just the lead?”

Steve nods quickly. “Yes I can!”

Bucky chuckles. “Okay, well we’ll see. Maybe if we can get through today without any tantrums. He looks down at Steve with a raised eyebrow. They both know that Steve averages about two fussy periods a day. When Steve blushes and scowls, Bucky just rubs a hand through his hair. “Here,” he says. “Keep eating.”

Steve behaves himself _excellently_ the rest of the day and evening. Bucky is amused but also very happy. Steve obviously wants to have more freedom to move about when he goes back to work. Bucky sends him into the bathroom to brush his teeth while he does a few things around the apartment before bed. It’s as he’s hauling the hamper out of the closet to put it near the washing machine (he’s going to show Steve how to do laundry tomorrow) that he sees it; a loose floorboard.

When he set the laundry aside and bends to pull the board up, his guts sink with what he sees.

-

Steve comes out of the bathroom peacefully, but he stills in his tracks when he gets a whiff of the room. He turns to face Bucky where he’s sitting on the bed, takes him in, and his face crumples. “I’m sorry!” he cries right away.

Bucky raises an eyebrow where he’s sitting on the mattress, holding a steak knife. He points at the floor in front of himself. “KNEEL THERE.” 

Steve drops to his knees, and he looks so honestly upset that Bucky thinks he probably would’ve obeyed even without the use of his Voice. “I’m sorry,” Steve says again, eyes already tearing up. “It’s old, I swear!”

Bucky watches him expressionlessly for a long few moments. When he speaks, he says, “Tell me, then. Tell me why you have a steak knife hidden in the closet.”

Steve winces. “Alpha…”

“Don’t do that. Tell me why, you have, a _steak knife_ , hidden in the closet.”

Steve exhales shakily, nodding even as a tear slips out. “I found it underneath the dresser. I hid it.”

Bucky nods. “Why?”

“To… I don’t know…”

“Oh, but you do know,” Bucky says darkly. “I want to hear you say it.” 

Steve shivers. “I was gonna hurt you.”

“I see.”

Steve looks at Bucky pleadingly, eyes full of tears that are falling steadily now. “Please, please don’t be mad. I did it the first day.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Steve nods and Bucky snorts. “So you don’t want to hurt me anymore?”

Steve bites his lip, hesitating. “…I don’t want to stab you,” is what he says. Bucky shoots up from the bed and starts pacing. 

“I don’t believe this,” he mutters. Really, he _does_ think Steve’s being sincere. He believes him when he says he hid the knife eight days ago. The little omega hasn’t been able to help from giving in to his nature over the course of time that Bucky’s had him, but he’d certainly been a furious little shit at the start. Bucky stops pacing directly in front of Steve and looks down at him. “Okay,” he says. He bends down and hauls Steve up to standing. 

Steve sniffles and reaches up to scrub the tears from his face. “What’re you gonna do?” he asks, afraid.

Bucky sighs. “More than I wanted to. I wanted to leave you here with a lead and tv privileges, Steve. I was gonna let you watch HBO!”

Steve flinches. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” Bucky scolds. “Now I’m gonna have to think of some way to keep you occupied. I can’t miss another day of work.” He huffs and runs his hands back through his long hair. “Here.” He grabs Steve’s collar and wraps it around his neck, the thick leather looking like too much for him, as always. He locks it and attaches the lead. Bucky points at the bed with the steak knife he’s still got in hand. “Bend over the edge of the bed and wait for me. I’ve got to make a call.”

Steve seems extremely worried, but he does as he’s told. Bucky leaves the room and closes the door behind him. He goes and grabs his phone, calling Sam. He picks up on the second ring.

_“Hello?”_

“Hey, man. I need some advice.”

 _“Hang on,”_ Sam whispers. He sounds like he’s moving around on the other end of the line. 

“I didn’t disturb you, did I?”

 _“No.”_ A door closes on his end and then he speaks in a more normal tone. _“I already put Riley to bed, didn’t want to wake him up._ ”

“Oh. Sorry.”

 _“What’s up?”_ Sam says.

“It’s Steve,” Bucky says. “I’m struggling with him. I’m going back to work tomorrow. I was gonna give him some freedom but he’s acted up again.” He relays the story about the steak knife to Sam. “So I have to punish him, right? I mean I know it was from the first day but he should’ve told me. I can’t just let it go …can I?” Bucky doesn’t know what the hell to do.

 _“Hey, I hear you,”_ Sam says, sounding totally unfazed. _“Sometimes you gotta get creative. There are punishments and then there are punishments, you know?”_

Bucky grunts. He _doesn’t_ know. “Well what would you recommend?” he asks. “What did you do when you got Riley?”

Sam barks out a laugh. _“Riley never tried to hoard sharp objects, man.”_ He laughs again, and Bucky scowls. Before he can say anything pissy, Sam sobers and says, _“You need to try something less extreme, pain-wise. It’s an old offense, so it’s more the attitude you gotta train out of him than punishing him for the knife.”_

“Okay,” Bucky says. “Well what does that look like?”

 _“Try something sex-related,”_ Sam says. _“It’s the best motivator. They crave it.”_

Bucky snorts. “Not Steve.”

 _“Yeah, even him,”_ Sam says. _“It’s biological, man. You ever seen MRIs of their heads? Half their damn brains are geared to process pleasure. Yours’ll come around, if he’s teased enough. Make him desperate enough and he’ll learn.”_

Bucky thanks Sam and hangs up. He spends a few minutes in the kitchen brainstorming, before he gets what he thinks is a good idea. He settles on it, then takes the steak knife and adds it to the gun safe he keeps in the hall closet. It’s where he’d put all the other kitchen knives, before bringing Steve home. Then he goes back to the bedroom. Steve is still bent over the edge of the bed, and he looks over at Bucky warily. Bucky sighs. He goes and sits on the edge of the bed and places a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “I wish you would have told me,” he says. “If you’d admitted to it after the fact, I wouldn’t have had to do much.”

Steve whimpers. “I’m sorry.”

“I know, honey,” Bucky says. “I believe you. That’s why most of what we're gonna do is just correction. Your spanking isn’t going to be much, okay?”

Steve seems to lighten at that. “Really?”

Bucky nods. “Yeah. Stay how you are.” He gets up and goes to get the cane he has in the closet. Steve doesn’t look back at him when he positions himself behind. Bucky knows the omega must be expecting just his hand. “Stick your ass out,” Bucky commands. Steve does. Bucky inhales, then brings the cane down in one, swift _‘crack!’_

Steve howls, hands instantly flying back to cover his butt. Bucky lets him, going to put the cane back where it was. When he returns, Steve has turned around and is staring wide-eyed at Bucky. “You said it wouldn’t be much!”

“And it wasn’t,” Bucky tells him, not interested in encouraging his temper. “Climb on the bed and present.”

Steve’s cheeks heat in anger, but after a moment of glaring, he listens. He gets into position, and Bucky can tell from the way he wiggles his butt subconsciously, that the omega thinks he’ll be getting Bucky’s fingers, if not his cock. Bucky goes into the bathroom and gets what he needs from under the sink. He returns to Steve and dumps out the box he’s brought. Steve’s eyes widen comically as he sees it. “What?!” he squeaks. “What for?!”

“Hush,” Bucky says. “It’s not a punishment. I just want to get you ready for tomorrow.”

Steve whimpers, and Bucky feels for him. “Shhh,” he soothes, running a warm hand up and down Steve’s back. “Have you ever had an enema before?” Steve nods his head. “This one’s easy,” Bucky explains, pointing out the equipment. “See this part? It’s like a knot, kind of. It’ll hold it in for you. So you don’t have to do anything. You can just relax.”

Steve makes a hurt little noise in his throat, clearly still upset. Bucky hushes him and urges him to lay down on his left side. He finagles a towel under him, just in case. And then gets to work setting up the enema. When he comes back from the bathroom with the bag filled up with warm water, he tells Steve, “There’s a pheromone solution in this.”

Steve gasps, trying to sit up. “What? Why?!”

Bucky pushes him back down. “It’ll get you horny,” he says.

“I know what it’ll do, thank you very much,” Steve growls. “But why?”

“I told you,” Bucky says, fighting hard to keep back a smirk. “It’s to get ready for tomorrow.” He watches as Steve thinks about that, his pretty little face pinking up in embarrassment after a moment. _Aw_ , Bucky thinks. The poor thing thinks Bucky’s going to fuck him into next Tuesday. Bucky snickers internally. _Not quite._

Steve doesn’t fight him when the enema nozzle goes in, nor does he do much more than groan when Bucky pumps the bulb and starts the flow. Bucky props himself up against the headboard and pulls his dick out of his pajama pants, playing softly with himself to get hard as he watches Steve start to squirm in discomfort, his belly starting to round out from the water. Steve sees what he’s doing and he scoffs in disbelief. “You’re jerking off to this?”

Bucky grins, unashamed. “Sure am.”

Steve groans, his flush spreading down his neck and even creeping to his chest. Bucky bites his lip and tugs on his cock as he watches it. “How you feel, honey?” he asks.

Steve grits his teeth and flicks a glare up at him. “Full,” he says. “Really fucking full.” He makes a face. “I don’t like it.”

Bucky would feel bad, except for that he can smell exactly how much Steve ‘doesn’t like it’, his natural slick leaking out and wafting into the air like an obscene perfume. “Your backside says different, sweetie,” he teases.

Steve grumbles and growls, but he doesn’t deny it. He reaches down for his caged cock, maybe to try and stimulate himself by knocking it around or something, and Bucky stops him with a stern,

“You touch that dick, you’re getting three more with the cane while the water’s still in you.”

Steve’s hand snaps back so fast, it’s almost comical. Bucky hums, darkly pleased. He keeps jerking himself off as he watches Steve’s normally flat tummy fill out. He almost looks pregnant from it, which of course gets Bucky’s mind going in all sorts of filthy directions. Steve’s squirming and moaning gets a little louder as the bag empties out into his guts, and Bucky tugs harder on his cock. He’s close, his balls pulling up tight and his knot growing beneath the stroke of his fist. Bucky reaches down with his free and clamps down on it, squeezing in pulses just like an omega’s body would do—just like _Steve’s_ body would do—and fucks up one last time into his hands as his knot swells fully and he starts to come. 

He shouts, grunting and humping desperately into his hands. When he’s past the most intense first minutes of the orgasm and he’s calmed down enough, Bucky opens his eyes and sees Steve staring up at him with lust-blown eyes, one hand holding his swollen tummy and the other reached around to his ass and playing with the bulb that’s got him plugged up. 

Bucky groans and squeezes his knot harder, riding out the last few minutes of his orgasm with _that_ image in his brain. “Don’t come,” he has the wherewithal to tell Steve as he keeps pleasuring himself. “Or five smacks… with the…” He hopes that’s warning enough, because he gives himself over to the pulse of his body after that, not paying another lick of attention to Steve until his cock has stopped shooting out streams of come. It’s a mess, Bucky observes as he looks down at himself. He’ll need to get a shower if he doesn’t want to wake up crusty and gross. 

He lets go of his cock, the still-blown knot keeping it hard and resting against his thigh. “Hey,” he says, looking down at Steve. The omega looks absolutely wrecked. His hand isn’t at his backside though, which is good. “Did you come?” Bucky asks.

Steve sniffles and shakes his head. There are frustrated tears in his eyes. “Can I?” he asks. “Please?” He looks panicked as he asks it, and Bucky thinks that, smart as the little guy is, he’s probably worked out by now that the pheromones in the enema aren’t to help him get any relief. 

“No, Sweetheart,” Bucky says sadly. It isn’t like he _wants_ to torture the poor thing. But Steve has to learn. “Come on,” Bucky says, getting off the bed and helping Steve up as well. Steve whimpers and whines at the tug on his guts as he moves, but Bucky just encourages him with gentle hands. He detaches the lead and brings Steve into the bathroom, taking the nozzle out and pushing him down onto the toilet. “Take care of that,” he tells him. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Bucky can _feel_ the intense relief that floods off Steve as he realizes that he won’t be forced to push the enema out with Bucky in the room. Bucky snickers and leaves him to it, going into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

After they shower and Bucky gets Steve in his restraint jacket and the both of them into bed, he kisses Steve and holds him close against his body. “You okay?” he asks.

Steve squirms uncomfortably, the plastic of his cock cage rubbing Bucky’s thigh. “Please,” he begs, horny and unable to touch himself. “Please Alpha?”

Bucky just shushes him and closes his eyes. “Not tonight, sweet thing.”

Steve _whines_.

“Don’t worry,” Bucky promises. “You’ll get to feel good all day tomorrow.”

Steve grunts, but he stills after that, somewhat placated by the promise. Bucky just lays there with his eyes closed and snickers in his head. _If Steve only knew what he had in store for him…_


	6. 6

In the moments before Bucky wakes, he dreams about the honey-sweet scent of an aroused omega, _his_ omega; someone he owns and loves and takes care of. It makes him smile in his sleep, grunting and hugging the object nearest himself to rub against. 

Steve’s resultant cry is what pulls him from sleep to consciousness. Bucky opens his eyes, making sense of Steve’s small bound form laying in front of him. His lips curl up, sleepy and pleased as he remembers the state that he’d left Steve in the night before, and the ensuing state that he’s in now. Just like in the dream, the entire bedroom is suffused with the heady scent of aroused omega, layer upon layer of the cloying scent built up from a night’s worth of sleep. Bucky breathes it in with closed eyes and a smile.

Steve has his back to him. He’s whimpering and wiggling, trying to grind his ass back against Bucky’s thigh, which Bucky slots firmly between his legs to allow him a little bit more of. Steve whines and starts rubbing back harder, making small, upset noises the longer it goes on. He smells _delicious_ , aroused and frustrated and desperate. The bedsheets between them are wet and Steve is leaking slick all over Bucky’s thigh. The sight and sound of it has Bucky’s cock hardening. His hands grip Steve’s too-skinny hips, fingers curling over the sharp angle of bone at the front to pull him in close. 

Steve gasps, apparently not having realized that Bucky was awake until now. His body stills for the barest of moments, and then he’s back to rubbing himself against Bucky’s thigh faster than ever. “Alpha!” he sobs, tears in his voice. “Alpha please, please please!”

Bucky hums, pulling Steve further back on his thigh and grinding his own erection against the small of his back. He stuffs his face in Steve’s neck, wishes the collar wasn’t there to keep him away from Steve’s glands. “Morning, Sweetheart,” he says, voice gruff from sleep. “How’d you sleep?”

Steve whines loudly. “Awful!”

Bucky smirks into the nape of his neck. “Hm? Awful? What’s wrong, honey?”

“I can’t… I can’t…” Steve is still rubbing his ass backwards onto Bucky, getting even less satisfying friction from it now that his slick has made things so slippery. Steve swallows dryly, then whispers. “I can’t come.”

Bucky runs one hand through Steve’s short hair, uses the other to hold his hip as he continues rutting against him. “You been like this all night?” he asks. His tone is gentle and questioning, even though he knows damn well that Steve’s been horny all night.

“Yes!” Steve sobs. His thin frame shudders. “I don’t know why. Just, please, I need to come.”

Bucky kisses tenderly at the skin just over the top edge of the collar. “Okay, sweetheart. Okay. I promised you’d get to feel good today, remember?” He sits up, moves away from Steve and gets off the bed. Steve makes upset noises at this but Bucky just shushes him. He gets Steve up and out of the jacket. The lead gets detached and Bucky gives him a moment to use the bathroom before he takes him out and tethers him near the couch. Steve seems unsure, body held taught with unfulfilled arousal, but he doesn’t fight Bucky’s direction. There’s slick coating his ass and thighs in an inviting mess, but Bucky forces himself to ignore it. He jerks off in the bathroom instead, muffling the sounds of his orgasm behind the spray of the shower water. Once he’s dressed, he comes out to make Steve something for breakfast. “You want cereal?” Bucky asks him. “Or do you want to wait like, maybe thirty minutes?” At Steve’s questioning look, he clarifies, “I’m going out before work. Gonna get a few things from my storage locker. I can stop at McDonalds or something on the way back.”

Steve’s eyes look wide, and Bucky isn’t sure if it’s more from his persistent state of arousal, or perhaps his surprise that Bucky is letting him choose. “Um,” he says, licking his lips and slow to answer. And _yeah_ , Bucky thinks. _it’s the arousal_. Steve’s big eyes flick up to him. “Egg McMuffin?”

Bucky smiles, in love with the kid.

-

With Steve securely tethered (and no cell phone left behind), Bucky orders an Uber and heads out. He directs the driver to the storage unit he’s rented ever since he shipped out ten years ago. The key that opens the unit is tiny on Bucky’s keyring. He turns it in the lock and slides up the metal garage in the front. 

There’s not much. A little bit of stuff Bucky had managed to accumulate during high school—those last few years of foster care that were meaningful but not meaningful enough; some gear from Bucky’s years in the army, and a small but pricey collection of restraints and toys. Bucky eyes them all with an air of wistfulness. Alphas who serve are guaranteed priority in omega selection processes. After his return to the States, Bucky had been so enthusiastic about getting his very own omega that he’d gone out and bought a bunch of stuff to set up house. But then he’d been incarcerated and well… the offer of a free omega had been revoked. 

Bucky loads the items that he needs into the car one at a time. By the time he’s done, there isn’t room for him to ride in the backseat anymore, and Bucky raises a questioning eyebrow at the driver. The guy just huffs and leans to push the front passenger door open. “You got a new omega or somethin’?” he asks as Bucky gets in, throwing a look over his shoulder at the crowded backseat.

“Yeah,” Bucky says, trying to keep the pride from his voice. “Yeah, I do.”

He has the driver stop to get food, and on the ride back he texts Brock to let him know he might be an hour or so late down to the garage. Brock’s text back pings in only a few short seconds. _No problem_ , he says. _See you soon_. Bucky checks his inbox and sees that Sam has emailed him the therapeutic videos he’d mentioned on the phone the night before. The car pulls up to the curb outside of _Rumlow’s Auto_ , and Bucky sets in to lugging the two not-so-lightweight items up to the apartment. 

Inside the apartment, he’s met with the sight of Steve, straddling the arm of the sofa and rubbing his ass back against it. Bucky huffs a laugh and pushes through the door to set the restraint frame on the floor. He sighs once it’s down; the thing is _heavy_. He turns to Steve with a raised eyebrow, crumpled McDonalds bag in hand. “Is that behaving?”

Steve glares at him. “You didn’t say I couldn’t.”

 _Fair enough_ , Bucky thinks. “Okay. But is it helping any?” 

Steve whines, a sound that’s on the verge of a growl, and shakes his head. “No!” He spares the metal restraint frame a glance. “What’d you give me?!” he demands. His face is flushed from his efforts and it is entirely too cute.

“An aphrodisiac and an inhibitory agent.” Bucky watches Steve carefully, waiting for him to explode. “You won’t be able to orgasm anytime soon.”

Realization dawns over Steve’s face like a dark tide. “What?!”

Bucky smirks. “Calm down.” Steve is shouting at him as he sets the food aside, goes back out the door and down to get the other item where he’d left it on the sidewalk. Steve gasps when he sees Bucky set it on the floor. 

“You said I’d get to feel good today!!” He’s looking at the Sybian Bucky’s just lugged in as if it’s a torture item. “You said you wouldn’t punish me!” He glares mutinously at Bucky, still rubbing his ass back on the arm of the couch, most-likely subconsciously at this point, since he’s so angry. “I hate you!”

Bucky huffs. “No you don’t. Come here.” He unclips Steve’s lead and grabs the harness from the side table. Steve starts fighting as soon as he sees what Bucky’s doing, but Bucky manages to get in on him after a few moments of furious struggle. It’s not like he wasn’t expecting this fight. “It’s not punishment,” he tells him, leaving the thigh straps unclipped from the rest of it. “It’s therapy. Sam says they do this at the clinic for behavioral issues.”

“Fuck you and fuck Sam!” Steve yells, though there’s an edge of a sob to it now. He’s limp against the harness, perhaps knowing the inevitability of what’s about to happen. “You said,” he cries. “You _said_!”

Bucky kisses his temple and puts him on the floor. Steve sinks down without a fight. “I know what I said, Sweetheart. I didn’t lie.”

“You tricked me,” Steve pouts.

“Yeah, well…” Bucky sets to work setting up the frame and the Sybian underneath it. “You did plan to murder me, honey.”

Steve huffs. “I won’t anymore. I promise.”

Bucky laughs, the hilarity of that hitting him hard. “You know what? I actually believe that you won’t. But you still have issues.” He gives Steve a wry look. Steve blushes but doesn’t deny it. Progress is progress. “Yeah. So Sam emailed me these videos. I’m gonna get you set up here and I’ll come check on you later.”

Steve’s scent is _furious_ , poor thing. But for the first time ever, he doesn’t scream or fight or cry. He just sits there and glares and maybe watches what Bucky’s doing with a modicum of fearful interest. When Bucky puts the attachment on the Sybian and rolls a condom over it, Steve whimpers audibly. “You’re gonna make me… all day?” he asks.

Bucky’s heart softens at the look on Steve’s face. He has to be firm now though, he knows. Steve is just barely starting to come around, in some small ways. He’s getting better, but he still needs help. “Yeah baby, I am.”

Steve makes another soft sound of discontent. “S’punishment,” he mumbles. 

Bucky sighs. “No, it’s not.” Sam had explained the principle to him; punishment versus what this is. Bucky can’t remember all the technical terms Sam had thrown out, but it’d been something about… “Omission training,” he says, pulling Steve up to standing and bringing him over to the set up. “You lose something you like till you start behaving.”

Steve stiffens and tries to push back against Bucky’s hands on his shoulders, but the fight leaves him and then he’s sinking to his knees over the Sybian machine. Bucky praises him, “Good boy,” which only earns him a growl. He reaches around to feel Steve’s hole and finds him wet and soft. Not surprising. “Here,” he says, gentling Steve down onto the attachment. Steve moans quietly and that makes Bucky smirk. It’s meant for a male omega; not as good as a knot but still big enough to reach all the right places. “There you go,” he soothes, petting his hands over the skin of Steve’s back, the tops of his thighs. “How’s that?”

Steve doesn’t say anything, just squeezes his eyes shut as he gets used to the feel of being filled. He’s biting his lip, cheeks flushed from his exertion, or maybe the pleasure. Maybe both. Bucky leans in and kisses him, licking at his lips to get him to stop biting them and open up to him. He does, letting Bucky into his mouth with nothing more than a gentle sigh. It does things to Bucky, to hear and feel that tiny, quiet submission. It’s all he ever wants. “Good boy,” he says again once they’ve parted. 

Steve is blinking up at him. “Please.”

Bucky hums, ignoring that. He takes his time in restraining Steve to the frame. He needs to keep Steve completely immobile, but he also needs to make sure he’s comfortable. He’ll be strapped down all day, after all. The frame is multipurpose. Bucky arranges Steve accordingly, his shins to the floor and his thighs to the machine, his shoulders and waist and arms held firmly still so that he can’t move himself off or away from where he’s sitting. He’ll be able to wiggle, Bucky supposes, but that won’t achieve anything but more stimulation. He stands once he’s satisfied with the arrangement and looks down at Steve as he tests it out, squirming and huffing as he tries to feel his way out of it. “Can you move?” Bucky asks him.

Steve huffs. “…No.” He glares up at Bucky. “I—”

“—Hate me. Yeah yeah, I know.” Bucky waves him off. He goes and turns the tv on and uses the remote to access the videos Sam sent him. They load and Bucky pauses at the beginning of the playlist. “These are for you to watch,” he tells Steve. “You’re gonna sit here and watch them until I get a break to come up and check on you, okay?”

Steve doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t curse, which is nice. Bucky sets the tv remote aside and grabs the McDonald’s bag. “You want your breakfast now?” he asks. 

Steve shakes his head. “No.”

“Fine.” Bucky puts the bag in the fridge for later. Really, he’d prefer Steve to eat. His hindbrain is urging him to force the issue, to provide for his omega and ensure that he’s well-fed. But that’s not the most important thing right now. Bucky can feed him when he comes back on his lunch break. He walks back to Steve and pulls up the app on his phone that controls the Sybian. “I wasn’t lying when I said you’d get to feel good all day today,” he tells him. “You’re going to sit here and feel really good. You’re gonna want to come too, but you won’t be able to.” He raises an eyebrow at Steve who is looking increasingly upset at the reality of the situation. “Understand?”

Steve whimpers. “Alpha, please…”

“Shhh.” Bucky turns the Sybian onto its lowest vibration setting, leaving the other motor functions off for now. 

Steve gasps as the machine thrums to life inside of him, and he whines pleadingly again. “Bucky!”

“It’s okay,” Bucky says. “You’re okay.” It’s not like he _wants_ to do this. He doesn’t. He’d love to make Steve come a dozen times just like this and then fuck him softly in their bed, but that’s not what Steve needs. Bucky can put his own selfish desires aside for Steve’s well-being. He’s going to take good care of his omega. “Here,” he says, starting the first video going on the tv. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Steve goes back to pleading—and then yelling—as Bucky walks out the door.

-

Bucky gets down to the garage at ten, a full two hours past his usual start time. Dum Dum and the other mechanics give him a bit of a hard time for being so late, but Brock understands what Bucky’s been dealing with and tells the other guys to knock it off. It’s pretty smooth sailing after that. 

At eleven, Bucky uses the app on his phone to up the vibrations another level. At eleven thirty, he activates the thrusting.

When twelve o’clock rolls around, he’s straight out the door and upstairs to the apartment. The _smell_ hits him as soon as he steps inside, nearly knocking him off his feet. Bucky instantly has an erection. “Fuck,” he whispers, leaning heavily against the door as he stares at the sight of Steve.

Steve’s facing the tv, hasn’t noticed Bucky standing there. He’s completely flushed, his face sweaty and tear stained. Bucky swallows heavily, reaches down to palm his cock through his jeans. He lets his eyes rake up and down Steve’s body, admiring the way his slim thighs straddle the machine, how his ass rocks back against it the tiniest bit that it can, Steve’s constant moans that are as desperate as they are debased. The sound alone tells Bucky that the omega isn’t getting what he so desperately wants. Not that Bucky had any doubt. The inhibitory agent won’t wear off for at least another eight hours.

He walks a little closer, eyes glued to the spot where Steve’s ass meets the machine. Steve’s slick is _everywhere_ , more than he’s ever seen it. It coats Steve’s thighs and ass, the padded surface of the machine and down onto the floor. It glistens in the light of the living room and Bucky has never wanted to fuck the omega more. He exhales shakily and walks over into Steve’s sight. The tv is on a video of calm, pulsing music and pleasured omegas, subliminal messaging flashing across the screen every few seconds, too fast to read. Bucky pauses it. It’s the sudden lack of noise that gets Steve’s attention. His eyes shoot up, dazed and startled. Bucky smiles softly. “Hey,” he says, stepping close and reaching out to wipe strands of Steve’s sweaty bangs from his forehead. 

Steve pants up at him. He looks like he wants to say something but can’t find the words. Bucky stops the machine’s vibrations and dials the thrusting down to a lazy roll. Steve swallows, staring up at him. “I… I…” He squeezes his eye shut, tries again. “I wanna come.”

Bucky tuts sympathetically. “I know you do, Sweetheart.” He looks at where Steve’s caged little cock is resting against the machine, a messy puddle of precum right in front of it. The vibrations are the strongest stimulation Steve’s had to his cock in nearly a week, and Bucky figures that must be extra frustrating, seeing as he can’t get erect in the plastic. “I came to check on you,” he tells him. “I’m going to let you take a break, okay?”

Steve’s eyes open again, shocked and hopeful. He looks like this is an even better possibility than getting to come. “Please,” he says, eager and tugging ineffectively on the frame’s restraints. “Yes, please.” Bucky turns the machine all the way off. It’s beautiful, the way that Steve immediately sags in the restraints, relief flooding his flushed face. “Thank you,” he whispers. “Oh, thank you.”

Bucky hums. He kneels in front of Steve and starts undoing all the straps. “This is just a break,” he tells him. “We’re gonna eat lunch. You’re going to use the bathroom and drink some water, then it’s back on.”

Steve whines at that, but where it would have been a fight and death threats before, now it’s just a pleading thing; weak and resigned. Bucky helps him up to standing, quieting the whimper that comes as the attachment slips out of him. “Come on,” he says gently, and leads Steve back to the bathroom.

-

He has Steve lie face down on the bed so that he can inspect his body, make sure that no parts of him are bruised or stiff. With a little prompting Steve is able to tell him which spots need massaging, and once Bucky is satisfied that he’s in good shape, he brings him back into the kitchen for lunch. Steve’s egg McMuffin gets reheated and fed to him in pieces. Bucky makes himself lunch as well, and he makes sure that Steve drinks some water. He doesn’t want the poor thing getting dehydrated, after all.

“Okay,” he says when it’s time to get Steve back onto the Sybian. “Come on now. Don’t fight me.”

Astoundingly, Steve doesn’t. He goes in Bucky’s hold, allowing him to move him back into position. He whimpers and whines to no end, even starting to cry a little at one point, but at no point does he fight or backtalk. He seems to see the inevitability of it, which gives Bucky hope. Maybe all this work is paying off. Maybe it’s helping. “There you go,” he says to Steve once he’s got him strapped back in place, the machine’s attachment inside of him but not turned on. “How’re the videos?” he asks, genuinely wanting to know.

Steve blinks up at him, sniffling as he calms down a bit. “They’re weird,” he says. 

Bucky laughs. “Yeah, I guess so.” Sam had assured him that they weren’t porn, that they had therapeutic value. Hypnotic qualities or subliminal messaging or some shit. Bucky doesn’t completely understand it, but he knows that if it’s something they use at Sam’s work, then it must be effective. “I’ll be back again later this afternoon,” he tells him. “Then I’m off at five, okay?” 

Steve squirms and shakes his head. “I can’t,” he says. “Please. I can’t do it.”

“Shhh,” Bucky hushes. He puts a hand on Steve’s head and scratches his scalp lightly. “You’re doing just fine, Sweetheart. This is for your own good, okay? It’s going to make you feel better.” It’s a lie, sort of. It’s not that Steve’s going to feel better _now_ ; he’s not. But in the long run? In the long run it’s going to help. Sam and the internet have told Bucky that delayed sexual gratification is one of the best tools for overcoming behavioral issues like Steve’s. And besides, brain chemistry’s a powerful thing. “Gotta jump start his neurochemicals and shit,” had been Sam’s exact wording. Stepping back, Bucky flicks the app on his phone and starts the vibrations up again, this time on the second level and with light thrusting as well. 

Steve squeaks and jolts in place, features tensing up before he looses a long, low moan. His skinny thighs tense, squeezing against the machine’s base as it vibrates inside him. His eyes are shut tight as he pants and moans. Bucky takes the opportunity to turn the tv back on and hurry to the door while Steve is distracted. He just barely catches the tail end of Steve’s first noise of distress before the door closes.

-

Work _crawls_ by. Bucky goes back up at half past two, repeating the bathroom break and water routine. Steve is less coherent this time, hardly begging him for anything. He whines and cries but mostly just seeks comfort in Bucky, trying to stuff his face in his neck, to press his body up against Bucky’s. It’s endearing, and Bucky wants to indulge him so badly, but he forces himself to put Steve back in place and leave him alone in the apartment again. He increases the stimulation settings on the machine and resumes work, puttering around the garage half-assed until he can clock out at five. Brock raises an eyebrow at him on his way out. “What?” Bucky asks. He’s antsy to get upstairs.

“You’re carrying his scent all the way down here,” he says, voice dry. “What the hell you doing to the poor kid?” He’s grinning as he says it, as if he can imagine. It makes Bucky scowl.

“He’s okay. Please don’t laugh about it.”

Brock sobers, looking surprised. “Whoa, okay. Sorry man, didn’t mean nothin’.”

“I know, I just…” Bucky sighs. “This isn’t easy for him. I’m not doing this for fun.”

Brock nods and clams up, done talking. “Sorry. Be on time tomorrow, yeah?”

Bucky looks at him long and hard, trying to figure out if Brock’s mad or just embarrassed. “…Yeah,” he says. “I will.”

-

Bucky turns the Sybian off completely before he goes upstairs. He waits outside the door and wastes time on his phone for maybe ten minutes, wanting to give Steve time to calm down on his own, then pushes through. 

Steve is breathing heavily, slack in the restraints and trembling. The room reeks worse than before, and once again Bucky isn’t able to keep his cock from thickening in his pants. He walks quickly over to the frame, turning off the tv as he goes. Steve cries out loudly when he sees Bucky, immediately sobbing a choked, “ _Alpha_ , Alpha _please_."

“Shhh,” Bucky soothes, hurriedly undoing all the restraints and lifting Steve up onto his feet. He supports all of Steve’s weight, holding his slight body against his own and kissing his forehead. “Shh, sh sh. I’m here. You’re okay.” Steve is clinging to him like a limpet, trying to bury himself into Bucky’s chest, his neck. He doesn’t say anything more, just makes needy, plaintive omega noises against Bucky’s skin, mouthing and biting at his neck. Bucky chuckles and slides his hands down to Steve’s hips. “Did you miss me or something?” 

“Yes!” Steve nods rapidly and pushes his hips forward. The motions makes Bucky’s clothed cock dig into the soft skin of his stomach, which is exactly what Bucky wants and not at all what he needs to focus on right now. 

“Come on,” he says, tugging on Steve to get him headed in the direction of the bathroom. “You’re a mess.” 

\- 

In the tub, Steve calms down pretty quickly. The warm water and being held back against his alpha’s body seems to be what he needs, as he’s quick to melt into Bucky’s touches, his legs spreading in the water to allow Bucky to clean all the slick off him. “This what you need, honey?” Bucky asks quietly, kissing the side of Steve’s neck. He rubs Steve’s shoulders and digs his thumbs into a pressure point. “Just need to relax a little?” 

Steve hums, nodding slightly. “It feels good. …Thank you.” 

His tiny, quiet voice saying that goes straight to Bucky’s heart like a shot of liquor sliding down, warm and good. He hugs Steve tighter against his body. “You’re welcome, Steve. I always want you to feel good, you know?” Steve doesn’t say anything to that, but his scent doesn’t sour and he doesn’t throw out any angry remark about the day Bucky’s just put him through. The reaction gives Bucky hope. “What do you want for dinner?” he asks, feeling Steve’s resultant shrug a moment later. Bucky hums. “Well we don’t have much in the kitchen at this point I guess.” He gives Steve’s still-sore mating bite a nip. “That’s your fault, of course. I haven’t been able to get anything done with you acting up all the time.” 

Steve whines, though the sound is very quiet and definitely not intended for Bucky to hear. “M’sorry,” he nearly whispers. “I just get mad a lot. I try not to but… I still do.” 

“Oh, Sweetheart.” Bucky moves Steve around in the tub, encourages him to turn until he’s facing Bucky, sitting in his lap. Bucky frames Steve’s face in his hands. “I know you do, baby. And I am so, so proud of you for admitting that.” He pulls Steve in for a kiss, then captures his eyes and tells him, “You’re good, Steve. You’re good and I want to make you happy, okay?” 

Steve’s face does something that’s between a wince and a smile. “…Okay,” he murmurs. “I guess.” He looks away then, shy. “I’m… I’m sorry about the knife.” His pretty blue eyes flick up to catch Bucky’s reaction, then dart away again. It looks like it physically pains him as he admits, “I don’t want to hurt you anymore. I don’t want to make you mad.” 

Bucky smiles encouragingly. “Yeah? You want to be good for me?" 

Steve doesn’t say anything. He tucks his lips in and stares at the bathwater, then gives the smallest nod possible. He buries his face in Bucky’s shoulder after that, scenting embarrassed and scared. Bucky shushes him and pets at his back, holds the back of his neck tightly. “Hey, hey. It’s okay Steve.” He kisses the side of his head, over his damp blond hair. “It’s okay to feel that way. It’s okay to want to listen to your Alpha. And you’re so, so good for admitting it to me, you know that?” He rumbles approval deep in his chest for Steve to hear. “You’re so good for me, Omega. So, so good.” 

Steve relaxes at hearing that, scent lightening to something cautious and pleased. Bucky encourages it with a firm squeeze on his neck. It makes Steve groan softly in pleasure, so Bucky does it again. Under the water, Steve’s hips press the cock cage against Bucky’s lower stomach. Bucky hums. “Don’t get too excited, now. I don’t want you to get all worked up and be uncomfortable again.” 

Steve makes a hurt little sound in his throat at that, but Bucky quiets him. “Hush. It’ll wear off soon enough. Probably by tonight.” At Steve’s wide, hopeful eyes, Bucky can’t help but to chuckle. “Yeah, you heard me.” He gives Steve another squeeze on the neck just as he leans in to kiss his slack mouth. “Maybe late tonight I can get you to come.” 

The way that Steve’s eyes shine at the prospect makes Bucky’s heart throb and his cock jerk where it’s behind Steve’s ass. Steve must be able to feel it, because he stiffens and blushes. Bucky laughs. “Yeah, I like having you wet and squirming on my lap, that’s for sure.” He kisses him once more for good measure, and then hefts the both of them out of the tub to get dried off. 

\- 

In the bedroom, he puts Steve on his knees and strokes himself off right in front of Steve’s face, getting himself halfway to orgasm with his own hand before he abandons his cock and looks pointedly at Steve. “Go on,” he says. “Have some fun with it.” 

Steve’s eyes widen, but not in fear. He’s curious, Bucky realizes. And maybe… maybe eager. He licks his lips and brings his hands up to hold Bucky’s cock. One more quick glance up to Bucky for permission, and then he’s going to town, licking and sucking and exploring Bucky with his mouth. It’s not very skilled but it’s enthusiastic, and Bucky gives him plenty of time to explore, to learn the feel of him against his tongue. 

He threads one hand through Steve’s hair and tries not to move his hips. Breathily, he asks, “You like that? Hm? Like suckin’ on it?” 

Steve’s eyes flick up, and though he doesn’t nod his head or anything like that, there’s an openness, an honesty to his eyes that was never there before. He stares at him for a long time, before he lowers his eyes again and keeps sucking him. 

Bucky sighs and closes his own eyes, enjoying Steve’s soft explorations. He gives him a direction or two, telling him how to do better, and Steve listens each time. Eventually Bucky gets close but knows that Steve won’t be able to get him there all the way. Bucky doesn’t want to fuck the poor kid’s face so he pulls back and strokes himself off furiously until he shoots his load over Steve’s mouth and chin, down to his chest and the floor when Steve gasps and turns his face away. Bucky just laughs through a moan and finishes himself off. 

After, Bucky tells Steve that his reward for being so open and honest (and for being enthusiastic with the blow job) is that he’ll get to go to a restaurant with Bucky for dinner. Steve’s eyes go as wide as saucers when he hears this. “What?” he asks, looking truly shocked. Bucky’s over at the closet getting dressed in a pair of slacks and a nice shirt. “You… are you… really?" 

Bucky looks over his shoulder at him, fingers doing up the buttons of his shirt. “Sure am. I told you we don't have food in the house. We’ll go to _Madrid_. It’s a tapas place I really like.” He watches with a degree of amusement as Steve visibly works this out in his head. The first thing the omega argues is, 

“But… I don’t want to go naked?” 

Bucky laughs that Steve’s made it a question, even though it should be reassuring that he’s deferring to Bucky’s decision. “No baby, I’m not going to make you go naked. That’s kind of illegal, and I’d prefer not to have my property taken away from me tonight.” Steve colors at the word ‘property,’ but doesn’t say anything. “I’ve got clothes for you to wear,” Bucky tells him. He pulls a few hangers out from the very end of the closet and hands them to Steve. 

“You had these all along?!" 

“Yeah.” Bucky goes to get himself and Steve some socks. “I told you: clothing is a privilege that has to be earned.” He grabs the socks and looks back to catch Steve’s eye meaningfully. “You’ve earned it.” 

\- 

They take a cab to dinner. Steve looks like a whole different person, fully clothed for once. But he seems glad to have the familiarity of the collar and lead, his tiny fingers sneaking up to his throat every so often to run along the leather. He’s quiet and well-behaved on the ride across town. He stares out the car window the whole time, very interested in everything going on outside. 

This is the first time Bucky’s had him outside the apartment since the night of the figging, he remembers. Seeing the city and getting to go somewhere is probably a much bigger reward for the omega than Bucky had realized. As they near their destination, he leans over and whispers in Steve’s ear, “You can have a lot more of this, when you’re good.” He kisses behind Steve’s ear and draws back to let him continue looking out the window. “It’s what I want for you. What I want for us, together.” 

Steve doesn’t say a thing back to him, but his pleased omega scent fills the cab noticeably after that, so rapidly that Bucky even catches the driver’s eye wandering back in the rearview mirror. When he realizes he’s been caught, he snatches his gaze back to the road. 

\- 

_Madrid_ is a small restaurant, dark inside but comfy. Bucky’s always liked the dark, spaced-out booths it offers, how it’s noisy enough to not be noticed in private conversation, but only just. He knows Steve will feel less stared at here. It’s important to bring him out slowly. Too much too soon and Bucky knows it’ll only cause him to bluster and have tantrums. He tells the host that they’d like a booth in the back and away from other patrons, if possible. “This one’s skittish,” he explains, gesturing to where he holds Steve’s lead. 

The host nods in understanding. “Of course, Sir." 

A cushion is provided once they reach the table, as standard a gesture as the menu and silverware placed for one on the table. Bucky shakes his head before the host can place the cushion on the floor and says, thank you, but he’ll be having Steve sit with him. The host seems surprised at this—probably since Bucky’s got Steve on a lead—but he’s quick to smile and nod and take the cushion away with him as he goes to fetch another set of silverware. Bucky pulls a surprised Steve into the booth with him, holding him close against his side. “Close your mouth,” he whispers teasingly into his ear. “You’re going to start catching flies.” 

Steve does close his mouth, but he looks at Bucky warily. “I get all of this?” he asks. “You’re not… you’re not tricking me?” 

Aw, _that_ tugs at Bucky’s heartstrings. He squeezes Steve’s shoulder and tells him no. “I told you: this is what I want for us. When you’re better and you don’t fight me anymore, when you act natural and give into what you’re feeling, I want to be able to give you privileges and take you out.” He watches how Steve’s face slowly morphs into a begrudging sort of pride. “Yeah,” he encourages. “It’s gonna be nice, Sweetheart. I promise.” 

Steve nods, though he doesn’t say anything and he doesn’t meet his eyes. Bucky is satisfied by just the nod, and he reaches for the menu. “Here, let’s see what’s good. It’s all small plates here, which is probably best anyway, since you’re so small.” He looks Steve up and down, thinking how he wouldn’t mind getting him to put on a little weight. “You can get whatever you want.” Steve takes the menu enthusiastically at that, and Bucky thinks about how he’ll have to do a proper grocery shop soon. Maybe he can even get Steve to start cooking and doing other chores around the house. 

_Dare to dream_ , he thinks. 

.oOo. 

That night Bucky makes love to Steve. He lays Steve down on his back on the bed and sinks down between his legs, enjoying his hitching breaths and little cries of pleasure as he eats him out. Steve starts to come on his tongue after a while of that, his hole clenching rhythmically and slick leaking out of him in a rush not a moment after. Steve sobs in relief at being physically able to climax, and Bucky licks his release up like it’s nectar.

Above Steve’s body again, he dips down and presses their mouths together, licking into Steve and letting him taste himself. He starts thrusting his erection against Steve’s stomach, relishing the way the omega brings his knees up to cradle him instinctively, how his fingers dig into the meat of Bucky’s arms. “Please,” he breathes, eyes imploring. “Please, Bucky.” 

Bucky goes down to kiss at his mating bite. “Yeah? What you do want, honey?” 

Steve gets what Bucky’s requesting. He shivers bodily, then says, “I want you inside of me. Want to feel you, please.” 

Bucky smiles where Steve can’t see. “Course, baby. I love that you ask for that, okay? You can have that whenever you ask so nice for it.” 

He lines himself up and pushes in, Steve’s body parting for him beautifully. Steve gasps and then moans long and low. “ _Oh_ ,” he breathes, hips stuttering up to accommodate Bucky better. “Oh, _yeah_.” 

Bucky’s never seen Steve take it so naturally, never seen him give into it so easily. It spurs him on, makes him growl his approval down at Steve and thrust his hips firmly, just once, rocking Steve up the bed as he does it. Steve’s eyes fly open. They’re flooded with arousal, dark and wanting. “Alpha,” he says, voice high and needy like it should be. “Please, please, I want it.” 

Bucky gives it to him. He fucks him gently until he’s worked another two orgasms out of him, then he finally allows himself to let go, his knot tying them together as he starts to come. After, Bucky rolls them and pulls Steve to rest on top of him. “Relax,” he says, cupping the back of Steve’s head and encouraging him to be still and stop squirming against their tie. “You hardly weigh a thing. I’m comfortable like this. Are you?” 

Steve nods his head. 

“You can just fall asleep like this,” Bucky says. He pets at Steve’s hair and closes his eyes, tired from their sex. “Go to sleep now.” 

Steve relaxes completely, and for a long time Bucky thinks he’s fallen asleep. It’s only as he starts crying silently and Bucky feels the wetness of a few tears hit his chest, that he realizes Steve is awake. “Steve?” he asks gently. “What’s wrong?” 

Steve shakes his head, sniffling. “Nothin’,” he says. “Just… I really liked that.” 

Bucky’s heart throbs. He wraps his arms around Steve’s slim back and holds him tightly, kissing him on the top of his head. “I know, honey, I know. Me too.” 

Steve sniffles again, and he’s quiet for a long, long time. Then when the both of them are drifting off to sleep he whispers, “I’m scared.” 

“Scared of what, Sweetheart?” 

“Of giving in.” 

Bucky’s silent for a moment, then he says, “Of giving in, or liking it?” 

“…Both.” 


	7. 7

It’s weeks later when Steve finally hits his heat. Bucky has to work a Saturday shift and is just coming up the steps to the apartment when he gets a weak whiff of it. He pauses on the landing outside, sniffing the air. It’s muffled from outside but still, he’s on high alert as he opens the door to go in.

 _Yep_. One step into the apartment and Bucky is smacked in the face by omega heat scent. _His_ omega’s heat scent. He doesn’t spot Steve in the living room and so he hurriedly steps back outside and closes the door as quietly as he can before locking it. Best to get away without Steve noticing him. 

He hoofs it to the nearest Bodega in record time and waits impatiently in line for the cashier to ring up the guy in front of him’s lottery tickets and cigarettes. Bucky’s just getting a few food items, since Steve’ll need something easy to nibble on these next few days. “Thanks,” he grunts at the register, then declines the receipt and goes.

Back home, he sets the shopping bag on the kitchen table and goes looking for Steve. The laundry machine’s running a load in the dryer as he passes it in the hall on the way to the bedroom, where the heat scent is the strongest. “Steve?” Bucky asks, looking around the bedroom and not seeing him. The bed has been stripped of all its linens and all of Bucky’s dresser drawers are pulled out haphazardly. Steve was supposed to be doing the laundry today, but Bucky’s pretty sure that’s not what’s happening. He goes to the closet where he can hear rustling noises, and of course that’s where Steve is. Bucky’s face splits in a grin as soon as he sees him. “Sweetheart,” he laughs. “What’re you doing?”

Steve is smooshed into the very back corner of the closet, peeking out of the mound of blankets and clothing he’s managed to drag in with him. He blinks owlishly at Bucky, hair mussed. “Hi,” he says. He sounds shaky but relieved. “You’re home.”

“Yeah.” Bucky takes a step inward, feeling overjoyed that he’s found Steve full-on nesting in his closet. It means he really, really feels safe in Bucky’s home. And the fact that it’s mostly Bucky’s dirty clothes that Steve’s got himself buried in, well, that says that Steve really feels safe with Bucky as his alpha. “You uh, didn’t get the laundry done I guess,” he jokes, though he couldn’t care less about that.

“Sorry,” Steve says.

“Aw, no honey, you don’t have to be sorry.” Bucky laughs and goes to Steve, kneeling down near the edge of the mess that he’s huddled in. He’s naked, his bony shoulders visible over the pile, features flushed and overwhelmed-looking. For the first time, it occurs to Bucky that this might be the first time Steve has gone through this. “Sweetheart,” he says gently. “Have you ever had a heat before?”

Steve whimpers and shakes his head. “N-no. Not since… not since the first time.”

Bucky grits his teeth, angry at the reminder of Steve’s abuse. Omegas go through puberty around eleven or twelve, which would mean Steve’s been suppressing his nature for close to going on eight _years_. The thought of it makes Bucky furious. “Okay,” he says, trying to calm himself so that his scent doesn’t sour and make Steve upset. “Okay, well I’m here. It’s gonna be okay. How’re you feeling?”

Steve tucks into the blankets further. “I wanted to be in here,” he mumbles. “Wanted your scent.”

Bucky smiles, encouraging. “Well you got it, didn’t you?” He nods at the closet, at the hasty nest his mate has made. “This is really nice, Steve. You did a good job.”

“…I did?” 

Steve looks so _hopeful_ that it nearly kills Bucky how hard his heart squeezes in response to that. “Yeah,” he says, reaching out to smooth Steve’s messy hair. “Yeah you did. We’ll be real comfortable in here, dontcha think?”

Steve nods, enthusiastic. “I missed you.” He flattens some of the pile so that he’s exposed. Then he turns around and starts presenting, pushing his bare little ass up in the air and whining. “Alpha, please. Help me?”

 _Fuck._ Bucky’s been fantasizing about this moment since he very first brought Steve home from the center. He wasn’t sure they’d ever get here, with Steve content and happy and calling Bucky ‘Alpha’, asking him to fulfill his needs and see him through his heat. Bucky’s instantly hardening in his pants at the reality of it. “Yeah,” he breathes, hurrying to stand and rid himself of his clothes. “Fuck, Stevie. ‘Course I will.” He gets naked and sidles right up behind Steve, reaching to hold his slim hips and stare at his ass. He’s wet there, rim puffy and pink, fucking _pulsing_ with unfulfilled need. “When did it start?” he asks, voice nearly choked with the desire he feels.

“This morning,” Steve says. “After you left.”

Bucky resolves right then and there to get Steve his own cell phone after this heat has passed. The omega needs a way to contact Bucky in emergencies, at least until Bucky can trust him enough to leave the door unlocked. “Have you come yet?” he asks, curious as to whether Steve has found a way to get off in his absence. “Stick anything up this hole?”

Steve whines _loudly_ at that. “No,” he says. “I waited. I waited for you. I did, I promise.”

Bucky wouldn’t have blamed him if he hadn’t, if he’d tried to stuff himself full of some odd object or his own damn fist. “I should’ve been here,” he says, already taking hold of his dick and giving himself a few tight strokes. “M’gonna fuck you so good, Stevie. Gonna make you feel amazing.”

Steve is nodding frantically into the laundry. “Yeah, yeah yeah.” His ass sticks back even further. “ _Pleease_.”

“Okay hang on one sec.” Bucky goes out to get a condom from the bedside table. He’s back behind Steve again in less than ten seconds, but still the omega’s crying out like he’s been permanently abandoned. “Shh sh sh, I’m here.” Bucky rips the foil open and makes to roll the condom over his dick, but Steve hears the sound and inhales sharply. He turns over onto his back and looks plaintively up at Bucky.

“No,” he whispers. His cheeks are flushed and he looks very conflicted, but he repeats himself and doesn’t look away from Bucky’s eyes as he says it. 

“No?” Steve shakes his head slowly and Bucky gulps. He lays down over Steve, propping himself up on his forearms and scanning Steve’s features carefully, trying to assess just how heat-riddled his brain might be right now. He’s seemed very lucid, but what he’s asking for is… “You want that?” he asks. “You want me to breed you?”

Steve bites his lip. “Okay.”

“No…” Bucky huffs. “Not ‘okay’ Steve. That’s not good enough. I need to know.” He looks at him seriously and Voices, “TELL ME HONESTLY.” He relaxes his voice and asks, “You want to get pregnant?”

Steve’s eyes have widened from Bucky’s command, and he tips his head to the side to bare his neck in submission. “Yes, Alpha. I want it.”

That isn’t something Bucky _ever_ thought he’d hear from Steve, and it’s as arousing as it is surreal. He lets his forehead drop down to rest on Steve’s shoulder. “Fuck, baby. I don’t know if we should…”

Steve’s knees bend, cradling Bucky between his legs. He tilts his hips up to get Bucky’s dick closer to his ass. “Do it,” he whispers, looking imploringly at Bucky. “Please Bucky. I want to be good. I want to, for you.”

That does it for Bucky. He nods against Steve’s shoulder and says, “Okay. Okay Omega.” Steve hums happily at the name, at being told that he can have what he’s craving. Bucky knows it’s what’s best. A baby might be a huge undertaking, but being bred is what’s best for Steve. “Okay,” Bucky says again. He pulls back just enough to angle his cock to Steve’s entrance, and then he’s pushing in, sliding into Steve’s body easy as anything and grunting at the feeling just as Steve shudders and cries out,

“Oh, oh, oh. _Yeeesss_.” He starts to come, his ass contracting around Bucky’s cock in strong pulses. One glance down and Bucky sees a tiny amount of clear come dribbling out of his caged cock. 

“Fuck, baby,” he groans. “S’that all it takes? Just gotta get on my cock and you’re coming?”

Steve nods fast, his eyes squeezed shut as he shivers through the orgasm. “Oh, mmmm. Mm hm.”

Bucky thrusts once, jolting Steve’s tiny body in the sheets. “Good boy. You’re a _good_ fucking boy for coming on my dick, you know that?” When Steve whines and nods and tries to tilt his hips up for more, Bucky starts up a steady pace of thrusting. “Gonna make you come so many times Stevie,” he promises. “As many times as you need. I’m here, okay? Gonna make you feel so fucking good.” He fucks into him again, hard and deep and demanding, then surges down to connect their mouths in a filthy kiss. 

Steve moans into it and scrabbles to get his hands on Bucky, holding him by his shoulders, his back. “God, ungh, _yeeeah_. Oh, oh! Just like that…” His nails digging into Bucky’s skin are tiny divots of pleasure-pain that just drive him on further. He sets into fucking him harder, kissing and biting at Steve’s bond mark as he fills him over and over again, their skin slapping together and Steve’s cries escalating into the sweetest, most desperate noises. “Give it to me Alpha,” Steve gasps, “Give it to me, give it, give— _ah!_ —ohh, mmm…”

Bucky does. He fucks Steve so hard and good, losing himself to the tight heat of him, the clench of his body and the way that he smells and the sounds he makes. Before long Bucky feels Steve come again, and it gets him close. His balls draw up tight and he can feel his knot tugging on every thrust into Steve’s body. “Fuck, baby,” he grunts. “You’re gonna make me come, gonna… _ugnh_!” He fucks all the way in, knots Steve and sees stars behind his eyelids as he starts to come. He’s sure he yells out because the pleasure’s so good he can hardly stand it. 

He comes and he comes, hardly aware of Steve and his distant cries; his clenching hole and how he’s probably coming again on Bucky’s knot, maybe even twice because Bucky’s coming so long and so hard, unloading his balls and then some into Steve. It isn’t until long minutes later that Bucky’s able to pull his focus away from his still-pulsing orgasm enough to open his eyes and look down at Steve. The omega is slack with pleasure and staring straight up at Bucky like he’s all he’s ever wanted. “ _Alpha_ ,” he breathes, tears leaking from his eyes. “ _Oh_ , Bucky. _Bucky_.”

Hearing Steve say his name like that is better than hearing him call Bucky his alpha. Bucky dips down and digs his teeth into the scar tissue over his glands, making Steve yelp and clench down hard on his knot. “Yeah,” he growls in agreement, fucking into their tie and drawing out the last few seconds of his orgasm. “ _That’s_ it.”

Steve sobs. “Don’t stop, don’t stop. M’gonna come again. _Please_ don’t stop!”

Bucky keeps at it until he can feel Steve’s body fluttering into another orgasm. Watching his face clench up in relief is almost as good as getting to come himself, Bucky thinks. He stares, rapt and fucking him gently until Steve is panting and wrung out. When the omega opens his eyes, Bucky smiles, and kisses him.

-

Steve’s heat lasts three more days. Bucky fucks him each time the fever ramps back up, and cares for him in-between. Steve eats the canned peaches and almonds that Bucky gives him, drinks the water bottles with some gentle coaxing. The few times when Steve needs knotted but Bucky just can’t get it up yet, he stuffs him with a false knot and lets him ride it out on that. The whole time, Steve doesn't fight it at all. He gives into it, gives into his nature and his instincts, accepts Bucky as his alpha and lets Bucky care for him the way that Bucky's been dreaming of since he first brought him home. It's a hectic, hot and messy three days, but Bucky absolutely loves it. 

On that last day, when Steve’s coming down from the heat and is almost back to normal, they lie in the messy closet and Steve thanks Bucky for taking care of him, admitting quietly, “...It feels good, like you said.”

He’s not talking about just the sex, is the thing, and Bucky knows that. “Yeah?” he asks. 

Steve nods and nuzzles against Bucky’s chest, perhaps trying to hide there as he finally, finally admits, “Yeah. I… I think I can be happy here, with you.”

And of course there aren’t words for how ecstatic that makes Bucky feel, how utterly content he is at the tender possibility that Steve and he might be able to have a happy life together from here on out. He squeezes Steve close and kisses the top of his head, telling him softly, “That’s all I ever wanted for you, baby.”


	8. 8

ONE YEAR LATER: 

When Bucky comes into the apartment, he’s instantly met with the smell of caramelized sugar and pecans. He hums and turns to lock the door (just a regular lock these days, and Steve has a key himself), then goes to the kitchen where Steve is standing at the island. “Smells so good,” Bucky tells him.

Steve smiles but doesn’t look up from the dough he’s rolling out on the counter. He’s dressed in a humongous teeshirt, skinny legs naked and barefoot on the kitchen floor. It’s what he usually chooses to wear these days, despite the fact that he has full clothing privileges. “What smells better?” he teases. “Me, or the pie?”

Bucky comes around to stand behind Steve. He holds him at the waist and presses his face to his neck, scenting him. “Mm, I dunno,” he says. Steve is sixteen weeks along now and he smells like pancake syrup pretty much all the time, at least to Bucky. Steve’s scent is better than the pecan pie he’s got baking in the oven, but Bucky pretends to struggle to decide which is best. “Don’t know Stevie, that pie smells awful good.” 

Steve chuckles, hands still working the rolling pin. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Bucky glances back to the oven timer, sees that there’s twenty-one minutes left on it. He grins and goes back to necking at Steve, this time pulling him in harder by the hips. “Come on,” he husks, “Gonna fuck you real quick.”

Steve shivers, his scent jumping with arousal, but he shakes his head. “No.”

“No?” Bucky says, tone lowering. Steve isn’t supposed to say no to sex, he never _wants_ to say no to sex. Bucky starts to Voice, saying, “STEVE—”

“—I gotta get this shaped now,” Steve cuts in. “Pie dough has to stay cold.” He picks up the rolling pin and brandishes it like a weapon, then points it towards the couch. “Go sit down. I gotta finish this. I promised Sam I’d have it made when he comes to pick up his pie plate.”

Bucky grumbles but listens, going into the living room and sitting down. “He was here today?” 

Steve nods, focus back on his work. “This morning.” 

Displeasure flares in Bucky at that, instinctively possessive and angry at the thought of another alpha being alone with Steve. But Sam’s his best friend and Bucky knows he’d never do anything. Nonetheless, he growls lowly in his chest. 

In the kitchen, Steve snorts. “Down, boy.”

Bucky growls louder. It’s completely irrational, fueled by Steve’s pregnant state, but he really, really wants to fuck Steve now, scent mark the hell out of him with kisses and bites and smear his come all over him, _inside_ of him, not let him wash it off and parade him around in public so that everyone knows Steve is _his_. “You’re gonna go and present on the bed as soon as that pie is done,” he says brusquely. He doesn’t use his Voice. He doesn’t need to. He can see how Steve flushes in response to the command.

“Yes, Alpha,” he says. 

That appeases Bucky for the moment. He grabs his laptop and opens it up to distract himself until Steve is done. He pulls up the tab that he always keeps open to a real estate website, picking back up where he left off in his search. They need a bigger place, after this baby. And Bucky fully intends to knock Steve up again, and maybe _again_. Steve’s body is too small to carry a litter, but Bucky wants to see him surrounded by pups one day. Now that Bucky manages the garage and can actually afford it, he’s searching for a place with at least three bedrooms. 

He’s just bookmarked another two properties when the oven beeps and Steve takes the pie out and sets it on the stovetop to cool. Bucky looks up and catches his eyes. “Go present on the bed,” he says. Steve hurries to comply, fingers already undoing his apron and then pulling his teeshirt off as he heads down the hall. _God_ , but it’s a beautiful sight. 

-

When Bucky pads loftily into the bedroom, he’s met with a view of Steve’s ass up in the air. He curses softly, dick twitching in his pants. He reaches down to undo his fly then palms himself over his underwear. “Baby, you’ve got no idea how good you look right now,” he says. Steve has put on weight during his pregnancy, his skinny frame filling out in a way that Bucky loves. With his ass up in the air like it is, Bucky can see the slick pucker of his hole, his long, smooth taint. He can’t see his belly though, or his little cock, and that dissatisfies him. “Changed my mind,” he grunts. “Turn over. I want you on your back.”

Steve listens, laying back on the bed and staring up at Bucky. He licks his lips, “Bucky, c’mere.”

Bucky steps closer, pulling his clothes off and sitting on the bed next to Steve. He runs a hand over his body, lingering at his swollen nipples and tapping them just to make Steve whine. “You’re gonna fill out here,” he tells him. “And I’m gonna suck on ‘em all the time.”

Steve groans, blushing madly, “Buck…”

“Shhh.” Bucky runs his hands down to Steve’s stomach, which finally looks truly pregnant. He can’t wait to watch the omega get bigger, get heavy with his child. “So fucking sexy,” he murmurs. When Steve’s hips jump up in anticipation, Bucky touches lower, holding Steve’s little cock between two fingers. He’s much smaller there now, a year of the cage having shrunk him down nicely. Steve doesn’t focus on it anymore, which is good. He’ll keen real nice when Bucky rubs it to get him off, but it’s not the main event for the omega, which is good. Bucky loves that his omega craves being fucked. He rubs Steve’s cock indulgently between his fingers for a moment, soaking in the way Steve gives a shuddering gasp. 

“ _Oh_ —ah!”

Bucky hums, he slides his hand down further, cupping Steve’s slick taint with his hand. “So smooth here, baby,” he murmurs. Steve shivers and nods, hips moving down against Bucky’s hand. Bucky rubs him firmly, stimulating him from the outside. Steve’s been bare for months now, his tiny balls gone and a longer stretch of smooth skin left in their wake. Bucky prefers him this way and he knows that Steve does too. Contrary to castration in beta or alpha males, the procedure benefits omegas. Steve’s sex drive has been stronger, his heats more frequent. It’s done a _ton_ to help with his temper, which is incredible. Most importantly though, it’s safer for the baby that Steve’s carrying inside him. “ _Decreased chance of miscarriage_ ” was all the doctor had had to say, to have Bucky making up his mind. He slips his hand further back to finger at Steve’s hole. 

Steve gasps. “Oh! Please Bucky.”

“Please?” Bucky asks softly, “Please what, honey?”

Steve licks his lips, trying to focus enough to ask for what he wants. “Please, touch me. F-fingers.”

“Yeah?” Bucky traces his rim. “You want my fingers? Want me to put ‘em in your cunt?”

Steve nods quickly, hips jumping. “Yeah, yeah. _Please_.”

Bucky growls. “TELL ME, OMEGA,” he Voices. “I want to hear it.”

Steve keens. “Stuff me with ‘em,” he croaks, knowing the kind of talk that Bucky likes to hear in the bedroom. “Please, rub my pussy, put ‘em in me.”

Bucky’s barely touched himself this whole time, but he’s well on his way to being fully hard just from what Steve says. “That’s right,” he praises, slipping two fingers into him. Steve gasps but Bucky knows it’s in pleasure. His body always accommodates Bucky so easily; his fingers, his cock, his fist. Anything Bucky wants to give him. “So wet, baby,” he murmurs. He curls his fingers and pumps them hard, knuckles bumping Steve's ass as he gets at his swollen prostate. “So keyed up, huh? You’re easier than ever, getting all fat and just wanting to come all the time.”

Steve’s not fat and he knows it, but he still blushes mightily and squirms against Bucky’s hand. “Yeah,” he whispers. “More, please. I need it.”

Bucky thrusts his fingers faster, really fucking him now. Steve’s eyes slip shut as he focuses on the pleasure, his cries turning to moans as he gets close to orgasm. “Oh, oh,” he gasps. “Bucky, Buck—I’m gonna come.”

“Do it,” Bucky urges. “Come on Stevie. Come on my hand.”

It takes a few more seconds, and then Steve is shuddering and clenching down hard on Bucky’s fingers. The fluttering feeling of his insides does things to Bucky, makes him need to get his cock in him more than ever. He pulls his hand out and lays behind Steve, yanking him onto his side so that they’re spooning. It’s one of the only positions that Steve likes, now that he’s filling out. Bucky guides his cock to Steve’s hole, pushing in slowly so that he can enjoy that first, tight slide. “Fuuuck,” he hisses, gripping Steve’s hip harshly and pressing his forehead to the back of his neck. “Baby, baby. You feel so fucking good.”

Steve makes a high sound in his throat, happy at having pleasured his alpha. “Love it,” he whispers. “Love being full of you.”

“I know you do, baby,” Bucky says, kissing just behind his ear. “You’re so sweet for me, got the sweetest cunt.” He thrusts his hips once, letting Steve really _feel_ him. “Love fucking you when you’re growing like this. You’re all crowded inside. You come so easy on my dick.”

Steve nods rapidly, hips moving back in tiny thrusts. “ _Yes_.”

Bucky starts rolling his hips, fucking into him steady and smooth. His knot is half-blown already, tugging on Steve’s rim with every thrust. “Not gonna last long,” he grunts. Steve just whines, and Bucky reaches around to thumb over his slick little cockhead. Steve cries out sharply and immediately starts to come, body locking up on Bucky’s cock and making his knot swell all the way. Bucky fucks into him hard and fast, tugging against the tie until he shoots into orgasm himself. 

It lasts for a long few minutes. When Bucky’s finally finished, he reaches around and rubs Steve some more to get another orgasm out of him. Steve wails and comes, clamping down hard on Bucky and the tiniest bit of fluid leaking from his cock. Bucky kisses his neck, pulls his hand back. “Good boy,” he says, rumbling low in his chest to let his omega know he’s done good. “So fucking good for me.”

Steve is breathing heavily as he comes down from the pleasure, going limp in Bucky’s arms. “Fuck,” he exhales shakily. 

Bucky hugs him close, a different kind of desire flooding him now. “Love you, Omega,” he murmurs into his hair.

Steve hums, tired and sated and scenting just like Bucky has always wanted him to—submissive and happy. “Love you too, Alpha.”


End file.
